AN: I uploaded early! This is it; the final chapter of Tribulations! This story has had a long run in the coming, and I'll be sad to not be working on this any longer, but it was fun while it lasted. Loved it? Didn't like it? Please R&R!

[…Just Before Shane and Co.'s Battle with Soul…]

Atop Ocala Canyon

February-24-3457

15:14 Mobius Time

Dust blew across the plain. There was an eerie silence as the sun shown down upon the scene at Ocala Canyon. Tufts of grass quivered in the gust as the separate forces stood apart from each other. They glared at each other as the wind swept across their faces.

They gave each other pure looks of hate, wishing for nothing more than to be the victor, but that was yet to be decided. It would be decided here; on the blood of their family; on the blood of their ancestors; on the blood of their friends.

It would be decided now.

Eight figures from the larger group charged at the smaller group of four mechanized war machines. A blue hedgehog from the group of eight lunged at one of the mechanized monsters, shouting, "FOR MOBIUS!"

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"In peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons."-Frank Huzur

…Syaoron the Fox presents…

…The Third in the Series…

The Mobius Code

Tribulations

Chapter 13

The Moment to Live; the Moment to Die

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Sonic attempted a punch at Metal Sonic, but the robot merely grabbed his hand and contorted it, bringing the hedgehog to his knees. He moaned in aching pain till Amy came in, flailing her classic Piko-Piko hammer into the robots steel face, knocking him back a few feet.

He then dashed forward and curled into a spin-dash, catching the robot off guard and making him stumble back. Otherwise, it seemed unharmed.

It would've shocked him if he hadn't faced this robot before. He knew that this robot was designed to know its copy's every weakness, countering it and resisting with necessary force. It was truly a robot to be reckoned with, but they all knew that.

Tails was facing his copy, wondering for a moment how Eggman was able to copy down all his powers into an artificial intelligence system. He shot a beam of wind at the robot, but it reacted with speed similar to Tails', dodging to the side.

If this robot moved any more fluidly, it would've been almost real. He dashed forward and tried to punch Neo Mecha Tails, but it put up a block. He smirked and they went into a combination of punches and blocks that was impossible to see. All they were was a blur as they manifested their focus to try and hit each other.

Cosmo was aiming with her Barrett M82 from the back, but she couldn't get a clear shot, at the speed they were going.

"Watch your head!" A voice shouted to Tails, and he ducked on instinct. Knuckles came flying forward, fists barred. He planted a firm spiked punch into the robot's face and sent it flying.

"Thanks Knux." Tails told him while he continued to stay battle ready. Instincts told him of an approaching enemy from behind and he flicked his tail out behind him, landing a fiery blow to the Mecha Knuckles bot.

The metal copy of the hardheaded red echidna stood back up, apparently heat resistant. It then swung a fist forward and Tails dodged it. He didn't, however, dodge the blast of lightning from behind. The Metal Tails was back on its feet, hands charged with whizzing electrons.

Tails' body twitched with the electricity, and he was unprepared for the right hook the Metal Knuckles landed on him. He spiraled in the air for a distance before landing unceremoniously in the dirt.

He shook his head and stood back up, trying to clear his vision. Another blast of air hit him unexpectedly, leaving a large gash across his chest. He grunted at the pain and shrugged it off. Metal Knuckles was about to land another sucker punch on him, but its flesh counterpart launched into the robot's side, knocking it off of its path.

Tails nodded to Knuckles as he rushed forward, meeting Metal Tails in a confrontation. He charged his arms with electricity and performed multiple strikes on the bot, which were dodged with great aptitude. Tails then smirked and jumped in the air, distracting the bot from Knuckles, who charged into the robot with a fierce flying side kick.

Tails then repositioned his body in the air and crossed his arms over his chest, charging them with electricity. Opening the first gate and becoming Gale Tails, he forced his arms down, sending down burst of lightning bolts upon the Metal Tails.

The robot looked back up and reacted with breakneck speed, sending up a thunderstorm to match it, causing multiple kinetic explosions in the air. Tails landed, having not landed a single blow on his enemy.

He took a chance glance toward his right and immediately back flipped, letting Shadow fly through in response to the Neo Metal Shadow's attack. He helped Shadow up and they soon found each other being backed into a circle.

The four robots circled the eight Mobians, leaving a moment of calm as they stared one another down. They took glances toward each other and started to sweat, seeing that things were starting to go downhill.

Tails' mind was working overtime as he tried to look for a pit in the robots' defenses. Having come upon a conclusion he turned toward the black and blue hedgehogs. "You two think you can whip a storm big enough to cover a small operation?" he questioned of them.

They looked at him and smirked cockily. "Remember who you're talking to, bro." Sonic said as he and Shadow dashed off. They ran in a circle at supersonic speeds, creating a tornado of black and blue. Dust began to pick up and Tails began his part.

He turned toward the girls and said, "Just run outside and flank them." They nodded and ran off into the cover of the storm. Tails then turned to Knuckles and grabbed his hand, throwing him into the wind of the storm. Using the wind, he began gliding through the air and toward the robots.

When Sonic and Shadow had stopped their storm, Knuckles had already landed an intense kick to his metal counterpart. Tails held his hands up behind him and began gathering deep red energy into them.

"Knuckles, get out of the way!" He shouted at the echidna. Knuckles turned to him in question, before seeing the energy ball and retreating from the spot.

Tails smirked and thrust his hands forward, shouting, "INCINERATION SUNBURST!" unleashing a laser of intense heat and licking flames at the robots, completely engulfing them. The flaming beam was like a beacon, burning brightly for a few moments until it finally died out. The results were… less than appreciated.

Tails gasped; his eyes wide open as he gazed at the area where the robots remained to stand, albeit a little charred. Then again, he expected nothing to be left after that attack. "Im-impossible!" He remarked, still awed that they had survived one of his best finishers.

In his gawking, he failed to see the Metal Shadow bot dash forward, hoping to catch him off-guard. This hope was immediately squashed when Alexa blocked its path. She made a quick transformation to her light form, gaining angel wings and a white crystalline long sword. She made a cut toward the robot and the blade shown with a bright light, making a quick incision.

The blade pierced the armor, but it didn't make a very deep cut. She went for a stab instead while it was confused and pierced the area where the heart would've been, had it been living.

Metal Shadow faltered for a moment, but still had the strength to yank the blade out and kick Alexa in the stomach. Oil leaked from the wound in the robot like blood from flesh as it looked right back at them, with unspoken malice in his stare.

Alexa stood, holding the area where she was kicked. She assumed that there were a few broken bones, but she ignored it for now.

They now coordinated their attacks, conforming to simpler tactics, such as focusing on a single target. Sonic rushed forward once more and slid under the Metal Shadow, tripping it up. Shadow then came underneath the robot and kicked it upward. Knuckles was already waiting above for the robot and front flipped, performing a heel kick on the robots head.

Rouge, heaving her XM25 grenade launcher, stuffed a couple explosives into the robot which exploded on contact while it was still in midair. Tails took the opportunity of shooting into skyward, surrounding himself with a white aura till he became a living bullet.

At speeds that surpassed Mach 4, he tore straight through Metal Shadow, leaving the pieces to come down in an inglorious rain of shrapnel. Knuckles, Rouge, and Tails landed on the ground and backed up with the others.

Eggman, who sat in the confines of his Egg Mobile pod, did not let his expression falter as he gazed upon the battle from a distance. It was a shame that one of his finest designs had been destroyed in a matter of minutes, but they hadn't discovered his Dark Chaos emeralds, which was a good sign.

He still had an ace up his sleeve.

They regrouped and decided on their next target to take out: Mecha Knuckles. Amy took out a hammer like weapon and held it in her hands. The hammer was similar to her Piko-Piko hammer, but it had a black and grey color scheme and there were two thrusters in the back. It was Tails' specially designed Gravity Hammer.

She rushed toward Mecha Knuckles and swung her hammer, activating the thrusters and sending a devastating blow to the robot's arm. The robot recoiled violently, sliding back a few feet from the force of the force of the bash. While its arm remained intact, it had a few dents in it.

Amy smirked and attempted the same tactic again. This time though, Metal Knuckles was ready. The robotic copy grabbed the long shaft of the handle just before it made contact. It tore the hammer from Amy's grasp and held the hammer in its hands.

The pink hedgehog looked nervous, seeing her tool of destruction in the hands of the enemy. Metal Knuckles was about to take a swing at Amy revengefully, but Sonic ran in and spin-dashed into the robot.

Seeing Metal Knuckles in such a plight, Mecha Tails and Sonic looked toward each other, making various computing noises before deciding to aid their ally.

Mecha Sonic burst into the fight, grabbing his fleshy counterpart by the neck and bashing him into the ground. The robot prepared a laser in its free hand to fire at Sonic, but was caught off-guard by Shadow who had lobbed a chaos spear at it. The metal on the robot shimmered and was scalded slightly, but there was no major damage.

Shadow glared at the robot and snapped his fingers while saying, "CHAOS MAGIC!" The result of this being an explosion on the robot that blew it back a few meters. Tails then came in, his tails charged with wind, electric, and fire energy. He rolled into a form of spin-dash and hit Metal Sonic head on, dealing multiple blows of damage.

Tails extended his arms and spread apart his fingers afterward. They began to crackle with electricity and he bellowed, "ARC DISCHARGE!" High-voltage electricity streamed from his fingertips and flared into Metal Sonic's body. The robot twitched violently under the strain of the electricity and the armor was beginning to overheat.

Luckily for the bot, Tails couldn't keep up the constant stream of lightning and he eventually tired out. Seeing this pause, Mecha Knuckles ran at Tails and applied a round house kick to his abdomen, sending him reeling back into their group.

He cringed at the injury; almost sure he had broken something. It was in this moment of calm that he noticed the Metal Tails a bit further away, charging up some kind of cannon.

"Uh oh…" Tails muttered as he quickly stood up. The glowing light at the front of the Metal Tails' cannon was fully charged and it was released, turning into a white laser. Tails stood in the path of the laser with one hand outstretched towards the laser and the other hand pointed in another direction.

As soon as the laser was received in Tails' right hand, he felt the energy course through his body and redirect itself at Metal Tails. The robot did something similar, extending its unused hand to intercept the returning laser.

It became a circuit of energy, running through Tails' body, and the body of his mechanical counterpart. It seemed to last like this for minutes at a time, with the brilliant light streaming in two parallel directions.

It lasted, until something gave. Tails' body just happened to give out first. As the energy ran through his body, he could no longer handle the excess chaos power and it had a negative effect on him. It felt like he was being torn apart by miniature explosions inside of his body and the laser stopped abruptly.

A blinding light was cast about them, blinding them. When the light finally died down, they saw Tails standing. Their expression changed, however, from happiness to shock when they saw his upper chest and arms riddled with bloody holes.

He chuckled softly before falling backward. His fall was broken by Cosmo, but she was beginning to tear up at the sight of him. She nodded to the others as she began to slowly heal his body. "What happened, Tails?" She asked him while the fox continued to bleed out.

The kitsune only chuckled slightly at the notion. "There was too much energy for my body to handle." He explained weakly. "My energy circulating system just gave out after too much strain."

"What did I tell you about over exerting yourself, fuzz head?" She comically replied.

He only smiled at that. He turned his head to the side to see the battle continuing. Sonic was battling his counterpart with the help of Amy and Alexa, using well-coordinated tactics to keep Metal Sonic off balance. It seemed to be doing minimal damage though, as Metal Sonic began countering by exchanging his right hand for a machine gun.

Metal Sonic spat bullets at them as they continued to run from the trigger happy robot. They hid behind a nearby rock while the robot continued to spray lead in their general direction.

Over with Metal Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles were attacking the robot with full force. Metal Knuckles was putting up a decent fight, blocking the occasional strike and throwing in a mix of punches and kicks. Tails saw Knuckles get in a good uppercut on the robot while Shadow warped behind Metal Knuckles and kicked it in the back.

Rouge in turn had flown up and prepared her infamous screw kick. She twirled into the robot, knocking it back a few feet as she landed. They all then rushed Metal Knuckles and…

Tails yelped, distracted from watching the fight as his flesh grew back into place thanks to Cosmo's healing. He felt his arms and chest over and winced slightly. It was still a bit tender, but it would have to do.

"Thanks Cosmo." He told her while he stood up. He then crouched, as if he was preparing to race at the Olympics. He braced his self while he revved up his tails. After a while, they were a rotating blur, creating a huge amount of wind. The jet stream he created was enough to allow him to form an arrow of wind in front of him.

He let himself go, flying forward, into, and straight through Metal Knuckles. There was a gaping hole in Neo Metal Knuckles, leaving it to crumble with nothing to help it operate.

He heard a deep chortling and looked up, to be met with the ring leader of it all. "Eggman…" He muttered with malice as the fat megalomaniac slowly floated down in his Egg Mobile pod.

Their arch enemy looked at the piles of scrap that were once Metal Shadow and Metal Knuckles and he shook his head. "Such beautiful creations, destroyed by such rodents." He appeared saddened for a second until he twisted his lips into a grin. "Still, the remaining pieces can be used for something much greater."

"What are you talking about, Eggman?" Tails questioned him while continuing to glare. Whatever was about to happen, it was sure to be dangerous.

A claw protruded from the Egg Mobile and it picked up two glowing objects from the piles of scrap. Tails gasped at the sight of the red and purple objects. "Those are Chaos Emeralds!" He yelled. "But, that's impossible! I have the red and purple ones!"

Eggman shook his head. "Look closely at the emeralds." Tails followed instructions and looked at the gems more closely. He noticed that, rather than the white light that Chaos Emeralds normally gave off, these jewels seemed to have a black sheen to them.

"These are my specially manufactured Dark Chaos Emeralds." The antagonistic mad man explained. "They're meant to run my Neo class robots. Because they are unburdened by the balancing effect of positive chaos energy, their power is effectively equal to two chaos emeralds."

Realization dawned on Tails as he did the math. "You didn't…"

"I did, fox boy." Eggman answered. The dark blue and yellow Dark Chaos Emeralds in Metal Sonic and Metal Tails respectively began glowing. The purple and red emeralds began rotating around them as the robots started levitating.

In a matter of seconds, after the gems rotated around them at blinding speeds, the robots appeared in their new form. The coloration of their armor had become a black and white color scheme and a black aura jetted out from their bodies. They had successfully activated their super forms.

The eight regrouped, knowing that this enemy was slowly becoming too much to face. Super Mecha Sonic extended its hand toward them and the hand began slowly gathering black energy. They all gazed at the energy and shuddered in awe at the intensity of the power.

"Chaos Eradication." The robot muttered in its monotone voice, sending down a rain of dark beams, causing wide spread explosions. One of them erupted near the group, blowing them back a few feet. They were hit by a couple more explosions, resulting in many bruises and cuts all over their bodies.

"Looks like we only have one option, guys." Tails whispered to them. Knuckles, Shadow, and Sonic nodded and got out their items. Tails pulled out five chaos emeralds while Shadow pulled out the other two.

"Knuckles, if you would." Tails suggested, receiving a nod from the echidna.

"The servers are the seven Chaos," Knuckles began the ancient chant. "Chaos is power, enriched by the heart... The controller exists to unify the chaos!"

The emeralds began floating around them, blinding the other four with a bright light. After it had cleared, they had undergone their super or hyper transformations. Their fur had turned golden, except for Knuckles', which had turned pink. Still, Tails kept his white muzzle and chest fur while Shadow kept the red streaks on his spines.

The two groups floated into the air. On one side was Super Mecha Tails and Sonic and on the other was Super Sonic, Hyper Shadow, Hyper Knuckles, and Tails' super form which was power by the opening of a gate. He called this form "Nibi Tails".

At near light speeds, they clashed. Every time they met for blows, blasts of gold shot out. Tails and Shadow were facing Metal Tails while Sonic and Knuckles faced Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic kicked outward, nicking Sonic but not downing him. He countered with solid right hook. Knuckles was off at a distance, firing orbs of golden chaos energy at the robot.

Suddenly, Mecha Sonic pulled back and began shooting a barrage of black lasers at the two, who immediately scattered. Still, Metal Sonic had to stop after a period of time, leaving the two to continue berating the robot with devastating attacks.

Tails and Shadow were coordinating their attacks perfectly, giving Metal tails no break. The two then backed off and Tails swirled his hands around. "CYCLONE SCYTHE!" Tails shouted creating a disturbance of wind so incredibly vast and fierce that it whipped up a miniature sandstorm.

Eggman had to admit, he was losing this battle. In all the possibilities, he never imagined that he'd lose.

That is why he made sure he had two aces.

Tails heard a scream and he turned to see Eggman holding Cosmo hostage. He had her bound up in the claw of his Egg Mobile and being held at gun point.

"If you know what's good for her, Tails, then you better give up." Eggman threatened while pushing the barrel against Cosmo's forehead.

Just like before, Tails' world slowed down. All he had done to make sure this wouldn't happen, and it did anyway. Cosmo was held captive, and it was either her, or the rest of Mobian kind. He was caught at yet another cross-road.

His rage was building up. Never had he ever wanted to be put in this situation twice, but it still happened.

He raised his hands in the air, which Eggman assumed that it meant he was giving up. He assumed wrong.

"TOTAL CHAOS CONTROL!" Tails shouted. Faster than reality could comprehend, he appeared behind Metal Sonic and tore him apart. He used it again, only this time we experience it from Tails' view. Everything turned negative. Time had apparently stopped, just for Tails. He floated over to where Eggman held Cosmo captive and he took her from his hands.

He knew he would only have enough time for this move to just put her down before it would be out of his use. He set her down near the group and floated back up to his position, letting time resume. Eggman couldn't believe his eyes when his hostage seemingly disappeared from his sight and Tails had dismantled Metal Sonic with ease.

Metal Tails was still operational, however, so all was still good. Metal Tails' aura increased two-fold, now that it had the full usage of the four Dark Chaos Emeralds under its belt. Beams of energy were being fired in all directions by the nine-tailed copy. It took a great amount of concentration to dodge the lasers and keep themselves out of harm's way.

Tails and the others knew they would have to do one final attack and take them out quickly. They all encircled Metal Tails and clasped their hands together. Their auras grew enormously and they each closed their eyes for concentration

Unanimously, they all shouted, "CHAOS COVENANT!" Almost immediately, a laser of golden energy enswathed them and the Metal Tails robot. The beam extended almost infinitely in all of its glory. A high pitched sound was emitted from the quasar of light as the attack completely devastated the robot, leaving no evidence that it even existed.

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Their greatest enemy was finally vanquished. After the attack, Eggman was left completely speechless. Tails floated over to Eggman and said, "Begone with you, tyrant."

He laid two fingers on Eggman's forehead and he immediately left the megalomaniac in a crystal-stasis, never to awaken from his slumber. They had finally done it; they had won the war.

Tails wiped his brow from sweat. He had spent too much time on the computer again. He glanced over to the calendar to remember what day it was. It was July, day 15, year 3473.

He looked down to his side by chance and spotted his son, his pride, his joy, looking at the screen. "Father, what's war?" The arctic fox asked.

Tails chuckled. "Syaoron, that is something you'll never have to worry about."

Syaoron pouted for a second, but remember the task at hand. "Mom wants you down stairs. She says that you need to help prepare for the party tonight."

Tails raised his eyebrows. "Wait, there's a part tonight?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? You've been planning this for weeks."

Tails furrowed his brow while searching for that memory. He then snapped his fingers. "Oh, that party."

He immediately ran downstairs to help Cosmo plan for the wedding. He almost bumped into Sam on the way down. He then looked in the direction of his workshop and growled. "SYAORON PROWER!" He shouted, drawing his son to him. "What did I tell you about using the workshop without permission?"

"You told me not to."

"Exactly! Don't do it again, okay?"

Syaoron nodded meekly and Tails continued into the kitchen, swishing his nine tails about. It was time to prepare.

Five hours later, everyone had arrived. Their kids were playing upstairs while the adults were talking downstairs. They had passed around the wine bottle and glasses, each having a comfortable amount of the grape-based alcohol to suit them.

Tails raised his glass at the table, signifying that he had something to say. "Well everyone, it is mine and Cosmo's fifth anniversary today. I'd just like to thank everyone for coming."

Everyone at the table clapped. Those who sat around the table included Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, Amy, Alexa, Melodi, and Shane's time-travelers, excluding Sam and Gary.

"We have so much to be thankful for." Tails continued. "I thank our children for coming back in time to help prevent a disaster a couple of years back. I thank my best friends for encouraging me to get over the opinions of the populace. Let us eat to our hearts content tonight, without a worry in our minds."

A round of hurrahs went around as they ate. Tails pulled out his little white kitsune ball and tossed it up and down while glancing out the window.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day. The day after was going to be a good day.

Life would forever be at peace, and he was perfectly content with that. Thank you, Lady, He thanked his mother silently while eating.

You're welcome, my child.

End of Tribulations