I thoroughly apologize for this taking so long! I had major writer's block and then my schedule became so hectic I had no time to write. Anyway I present you the last chapter.

Chapter 11: Rainbows Come After Rain

Everything was silent, the calm before the storm. Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat stood on the roof of a tall skyscraper. The building was one of the tallest in the city, on the edge of the Southern Sea, and it would be one of the first buildings that Eggman's army would reach. They stood on the frontline, waiting for the battle.

The quiet was broken by a distant humming, thousands of little flying engines. The noise grew louder until it was an obnoxious buzzing. Still, Knuckles and Rouge held their position.

"Are you sure about this?" whispered Rouge.

"This is all we can do," answered Knuckles solemnly, "maybe it will work, maybe Sonic will show up, maybe we'll all die. I don't know."

"I do not fear death," stated Rouge.

"Neither do I, but I'd rather not meet it today," said Knuckles.

The first wave came crashing down on them. Beautiful sunlight lit up the city just before missiles began to tear it to bits. The flying robots had machine guns that shattered the windows, and the sound of glass and metal and concrete all being destroyed was everywhere.

One robot swooped down on Knuckles and Rouge. Knuckles side-stepped it and punched it out of the air.

Behind them, Knuckles and Rouge could hear the Tornado enter the fray. Hopefully, Tails, Amy, and Cream would be able to hold some of the destruction at bay.

The humanoid robot that contained Shoca Lief was approaching. From the drawstring sack on her back, Rouge pulled out the yellow chaos emerald. Knuckles revealed the Master Emerald from his own backpack and the green gem swelled to its real size.

Robotnik, who had been hovering in his little personal craft above Shoca, saw the emeralds. Shoca has the power of Chaos in her, what if I add a chaos emerald and the Master Emerald to it?

"Get me those emeralds!" he commanded Shoca.

Inside her prison, Shoca squirmed and screamed inaudibly. Then the machine took a giant leap and started to run ahead of the second wave to the city.

"It's working!" said Rouge nervously to Knuckles.

"Here we go!" shouted Knuckles.

Setting the Master Emerald down on the rooftop, Knuckles laid his hands on it. He started to chant, slowly and in a low bass voice. His chant quickened and the chaos emerald in Rouge's hands started to glow as the Master Emerald did too.

"It's almost here! Hurry up!" Rouge told him.

Shoca Lief was bearing down on them, her staff was poised to strike.

The blow came but was stopped by a sudden force-field. Generating form the Master Emerald was a green shield of power, much like the one Shoca herself used.

The robot was paralyzed. Robotnik shouted out orders and dozens of flying Eggman robots fired at Knuckles and Rouge. Their shots hit the shield, doing no damage at all.

"Now Tails!" cried Rouge.

The Tornado came blasting through the city streets and to the paralyzed robot. Inside the cockpit, Tails took aim. I'm sorry Shoca.

Tails fired a dozen missiles at the center of the robot, the glass display with Shoca in it. The Tornado banked and flew up at a near 90 degree angle.

The missiles hit with a giant blast of energy. All the robots near-by went tumbling to the ground. Robotnik's ship flipped over and he was barely able to keep himself inside. The force-field saved Knuckles and Rouge.

The robot with Shoca inside it was thrown to the city floor, knocking over and crushing the buildings in its way. When the dust settled, the robot stood up again, fully intact. The only apparent damage was a very small crack in the glass around Shoca.

"What?" screamed Rouge. "how did it survive that?"

"I don't know, but we'll try again!" said Knuckles.

He closed his eyes and emptied his mind. Master Emerald, you can control Chaos, so control Shoca Lief. He focused on that one thought as Robotnik shouted,

"Get them, NOW!"

Again the emeralds shone, but it didn't work. Shoca Lief was too strong for the Master Emerald alone, and one chaos emerald was not enough help; they needed all seven chaos emeralds to control the pure Chaos in Shoca.

Heedless of Knuckles's thoughts, Shoca Lief struck the building.

It collapsed in a rumbling roar of noise. Rouge quickly put her chaos emerald away and grabbed Knuckles around the waist. She launched herself off the falling building, her wings pumping to keep them from being sucked down with the debris.

Knuckles held the Master Emerald as Rouge struggled to keep them up. Stupid Echidna, he's too heavy! She was falling, falling right into the outstretched arms of the demonic robot…

Robotnik watched gleefully as the bat and echidna fell into his robot's hands. Soon they will be mine! He thought about the emeralds. Suddenly, a blue streak flew through the air and caught the pair of falling animals, then, disappeared.

"SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" roared Robotnik with all of his might. I should have finished him off himself, he thought as he cursed GUN for interfering.

Sonic zipped around the attacking robots and city streets until he came to Station Square's seaside courtyard. He carefully set Knuckles and Rouge down.

"Not bad," said Shadow who was waiting for them by one of the courtyard's trees.

"You guys okay?" asked Sonic.

Rouge nodded as she got up; Knuckles propped the Master Emerald up against a wooden bench and nodded too.

"We tried stopping them with the Master Emerald, but it didn't work," he told Sonic and Shadow.

"The Master Emerald?" repeated Sonic.

"It's hopeless," said Shadow, "if the emeralds aren't powerful enough then--"

"Oh boys," said Rouge, "you'll have to finish this chat later. We have company," she pointed at the robots massing towards them.

"Chaos Spear!"

"Chaos Wind!"

The pair of attacks cut their way through Eggman's ranks, but still more came. As Sonic and Shadow continued to blast the robots, the Master Emerald in Knuckles's back-pack throbbed.

"What do we do?" cried Rouge. She was starting to breakdown.

"Chaos Spear!"

"Chaos Wind!"

Chaos wind and spear… thought Knuckles. In the midst of the battle's confusion and noise, he found his thought. The emeralds!

"Rouge get out your emerald," he told her.

By this time the Tornado was directly above them. It hovered over the courtyard, which in peaceful times had been a quiet sanctuary, and shot at the attackers.

All of Eggman's robots were coming from the same street. Buildings on both sides of them created a sort of bottleneck; they were easy targets for Tails.

Soon most of the flying robots were destroyed, but Shoca Lief kept advancing. No amount of bullets could slow her down. The sound of Robotnik's laughter echoed everywhere.

Sonic and Shadow took off towards her. Sonic went into spin dash and went flying into the robot's leg. Shadow wall jumped off the robot towards Robotnik as he laughed.

Sonic hit the metal with a grating halt as his spin dash proved useless. Shadow hit the ground next to him after Shoca had knocked he out of the air with her powerful staff.

"Get back here!" Knuckles called to them.

Sonic helped Shadow up and they raced out from under the descending robot foot.

Shoca Lief wasn't stopping. She was a mere 100 feet from where Sonic and his friends had decided to make their last stand. And the gap was closing quickly.

The Master Emerald and its yellow counterpart were spinning and shinning in response to the Chaos around them. Knuckles quickly told Sonic and Shadow his last plan.

"We have to free Shoca Lief, then the robot will be finished. The only thing I can think of is this: Sonic and Shadow, you have to use the power of these emeralds to attack the robot's center. If your guys' combined power is strong enough, the glass will break and Shoca Lief will be freed."

"Sounds great," said Shadow doubtfully. Why did I come here to die? He asked himself.

"It's all we have," replied Rouge.

Sonic placed one hand on the Master Emerald and the other on the chaos emerald.

"Come on Shadow, we need you again," he said.

As bullets flew overhead and Robotnik laughed in the distance, Shadow thought, my place is with them, their battles are mine too.

He faced Sonic and put his hands on the emeralds.

"Let's do this," said Sonic with his famous smile.

Power surged form the emeralds to the hedgehogs, and they shouted together,

"CHAOS ATTACK!"

A piercingly golden blast flew to the center of Shoca Lief the robot. The robot exploded in a fury of metal pieces, and a shockwave issued from it. The shockwave hit the Tornado, and the plane came crashing to the ground.

There, floating in the air, was Shoca Lief. Her body was the purest white possible, and her eyes were red as blood. She illuminated a soft silver haze and stared at the world around her in contempt.

"Shoca?" said Sonic hesitantly.

"Chao cho ca co chao!" screamed the raging monster, for Shoca was now a monster.

"Chaos rules and demands death," translated Cream the Rabbit from behind them.

Shadow turned to see Cream, Amy, and Tails. At least we will die together. At least I will die where I below, with them.

The sky turned black as rippling clouds blocked out the sun. Waves the size of mountains surged on the coastline. All around them the city was bending inwards, bowing to the pull of Shoca.

They were in the eye of the hurricane, the air was still but the sound was terrible, as the wind rushed around them.

Shoca Lief's entire body started to alternate between the colors, each one darker then the next, but her eyes remained blood red.

Sonic could feel the weight of the revolving power around them. And he knew, beyond doubt, that Shoca Lief was drawing everything, city, continent, the entire planet, into herself. Like a black hole, the world is going into the heart of Chaos. I have to do something!

He took a step forward, the step was painful and difficult from the weight that forced him down. Then he felt something by him. It was Tails! The fox moved past Sonic, inch by painful inch. His face was full a determination Sonic had never seen before, and despite his fear, pride filled him.

Miles Tails Prowler made his way to Shoca Lief. The calm air was beginning to stir, and it whipped his furry coat around him. Shoca is my chao, my responsibility, he thought. He didn't know why, but he felt that he was the only one who could stop Shoca Lief. But he didn't know how. Fear gripped his heart, we're going to die, his mind kept telling him,but he kept moving.

"Shoca Lief!" he shouted to the monster, "you must stop! You're going to destroy everything!"

"Co cho cha chao!"- I no longer listen to you, answered Shoca in a voice unlike her own. It was both masculine and feminine and yet neither. It was otherworldly, ancient and evil. It was the voice of Chaos itself.

"But you're going to kill everyone!"

"Ca cho chao chao cha co!"-Chaos demands your death, be silent!

Shoca thrust out her arm and a gust of wind hit Tails. It lifted him up in the air and then threw him back down. Tails lost his breath and never regained it as the gust focused on him, pinning him to the courtyard floor

Tails couldn't breath. The pressure on his throat was suffocating him…

Sonic grabbed him and pulled him out of the wind's current. Giving him a shake, Sonic smiled at his friend. In that smile was a glimmer of doubt and fear, not the familiar hope. Tails realized in despair that Sonic had given up. Sonic the Hedgehog, his hero and brother was giving up, had accepted defeat. But he can't! I need him, I love him!

The words came flowing from Tails's mouth, "Shoca, you are going to destroy everything I love and need, all my friends and even yourself. Don't do this! I love you Shoca Lief!"

The wind and waves around them grew faster and the sky grew blacker, but Shoca Lief's eyes softened. For Chaos is one of the universe's greatest powers… but Love is greater.

The explosion came like thunder. The earth quaked under their feet, and Tails clung to Sonic as the all of the darkness of the sky whipped past them and into Shoca Lief. Another peal of thunder and then--

Pure light. It filled all of Tails's senses. Everything was white, his sight and hearing, his very body and soul. Suspended in freedom and purity, Tails tried to think-is this heaven?-but he couldn't think. He could only be. He could only exist in this ecstasy, and that's all he needed.

Then it was normal.

Tails opened his eyes and felt a gentle rain fall down on him. He released Sonic and looked around.

Everyone was okay, just as confused as he. Through the lightly falling rain, he could see that all of the robot debris was gone; the streets were clean. The buildings that had been destroyed were standing there as if nothing had happened to them. And in the courtyard, just feet away, Robotnik sat deprived of his machines and chained to the nearest bench.

"Wow," said Amy softly.

"What happened?" asked Rouge.

"I'm just glad we're alive," sighed Knuckles in relief.

Cream came up to Tails and put a hand on his shoulder, "you did the right thing."

"What did you do anyway, Tails," asked Sonic.

"I don't know," replied Tails in surprise, "I said 'I love you'."

"Love?" asked Shadow as he stood besides Tails and Sonic, "why is Love always the answer?"

"I don't know the answer to that, Shadow," said Sonic, "but you're welcome to stay with us and find out."

"Maybe I will stay with you, maybe," replied Shadow thoughtfully.

The rain stopped and the sun burst into the sky. It shown with new vitality, as if it, too, were happy to be alive.

Where is Shoca Lief? Thought Tails as he looked at the sun. Did she destroy herself to save us? Or is she still alive somewhere?

"Look at that!" exclaimed Amy.

Everyone looked at the sky. There was the widest, fullest rainbow anyone had ever seen. And as they all smiled at it, Tails knew the answer, Shoca Lief was alive, and so was Love.

There you have it, the end of this story. Hope you liked it. Thanks to everyone who read it, double thanks to those who reviewed (hint-hint).

Love is powerful, and I hope it brightens your day!

Good-bye, alleycat1312.