Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Marines Journey - The SHODAN crisis ❯ Chapter 14: Realisation and the dawn of recognition ( Chapter 15 )

The Marine's Journey

Chap. 14 - Realisation and the dawn of recognition.

By: Piccard

Here I am, once again on the day I got my exam results, and boy am I full of myself! Here comes chapter 14, and I have no idea why I complain about not being reviewed. I'm getting used to it!

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Disclaimer: Zzz. Chap's one and nine, Zzz. No witty comment, Zzz.

Can't think of a decent Warcraft quote to use this time! Lets get on with it!

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The next morning, Piccard woke up and found himself looking into the eyes of Amy. "Enjoy last night?" "Of course I did, you mean you planned the whole thing?" Amy nodded as she kissed Piccard, who went red again. "I'll never get used to that." "Used to what?" Piccard then kissed her, causing her to go a similar shade of red. Amy suddenly seemed to tense up, and Piccard wondered why. Then he had a brainwave. He looked under the covers and realised that they were both still naked, and that he was pressing against her entrance. "Sorry." Piccard mumbled as me moved back. "Don't be, I liked it."

Piccard smiled as he got up and donned his armour and jeans. Amy put her own clothes back on after she watched Piccard getting his on. After they were done, they walked out and proceeded to go downstairs.

Of course, the first thing Piccard noticed was that everyone else was piled on the floor. Piccard walked over and noticed a piece of metal on the floor. "Damn thing, must've been knocked!" Piccard said as he picked it up and pressed a few buttons. "Emitter, activate E.M.H." The area around it flickered partially, and the Doctor materialised. "Doc, what happened?" "We lost the emerald, that's what happened! Some guy in a red cape took it." Piccard picked up on this. "Red cape? D'sparil?" "I believe that was his name, you know him?" Piccard turned to face the window, partially because he wanted to see something peaceful, and partially to add to effect. "I only met him once, he was fighting Dark, and before I could get a word in edgeways, he came at me like a bolt from the blue. Literally, he used lightning." Then they heard a voice behind them. "Yup, sounds like the one I faced." Piccard turned to see his dark side sprawled rather non-heroically on top of the pile. "D'sparil's back?" "Yup, and he's stronger too, he came with three maulotaurs and nearly demolished us. You should've been there!"

Amy had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water. When she came back, she saw the Doctor undergoing the verbal torment from Piccard. "I did what was right, it taught you a lesson!" "Doctor, my dark side could've been killed, along with the others. What lesson did it teach me? That my emotions are easy to shatter?" "Piccard, I only did what I assumed I had to do." Piccard only glanced at him. "Doc, I need to give you a maintenance check later." He said as he walked over to the pile, dug a hand in, and found who he was after. "Anaetheron," Piccard started as he pulled the semi-conscious Hell Knight from the pile. "Tell me in detail what happened?" Anaetheron told him everything right up to the point where he was knocked against the wall with Cybos. Dark filled him in on the rest. "So D'sparil got the emerald at the point when Dark was the only one standing? That means you all did very well." Piccard announced as he started walking towards the door. But he was stopped by Amy's voice. "Where you going?" "For a walk." "Hold up." Piccard turned with a sceptical look as Amy grabbed a pink coat (Piccard: Oh please.) and her shoes from the side. "I'll go with you." "Okay." Was all Piccard said as the two left the mansion. But there was another reason as to why Amy had wanted to go, because Dark had pointed to one of the super emeralds and gave her a psionics message to give it to Piccard while they were out.

The Doctor, Dark and Anaetheron had just managed to start sorting the pile when Rogue, Tails and Cream walked in. "What the hell happened?" "We'll explain everything when they're awake Rogue." The Doctor said as he gestured for them to help. "If it's any consolation, we lost the emerald, but they didn't get it easily." Rogue faked a smile and looked around. "Where's Piccard?" "He and Amy just went for a walk." Rogue sighed as he helped dig Knuckles from the base of the pile. "Why do these things always happen?" she asked herself as she dug.

Piccard and Amy meanwhile were in the Park, on a bench next to the fountain. Piccard had just dealt with three kids that knew him from either the dance club or the mall as Amy only looked on and smiled. "Man, those kids never quit do they?" "Of course not, they idolise you." Piccard gave her a queer look after hearing this. "Idolise? Don't they idolise Sonic and his helpers for saving the world." "On the second day you were unconscious, they had a popularity poll on the news, and you came second! Only being beaten by Sonic himself." Piccard smiled over this for a minute. "I expect it's the magic that does it." "I recorded every documentary about you sine you arrived, perhaps we can see them later?" Piccard thought `sad, taping things about someone you live with' whilst saying. "Of course we can, why not show everyone?" Amy giggled, as she got closer to Piccard, "Works for me." Was all she said as she made herself comfortable on Piccard's armour. Piccard smiled as he brushed the quills from her face and got a slight `Mmm' in return. "If they think that I'm all nicey nicey, then they better hope I don't get pissed." "What do you mean?" "As you should know, a pissed off person can go berserk and his or her personality does a 180, if you throw in magic, then even I have no idea what destruction might come from it." Amy looked up at him slightly worried. "Have you ever done that?" "Once, after I got blamed for what Dark did on the Poledes, the station was out for a month and half her crew were injured. But don't worry, as long as I have you, I will never go to the powers of chaos, I can assure you of that."

Meanwhile, another couple were just leaving the mansion. "Are you sure they went this way?" "Of course Bunnie, Dark said zat Ee observed zem enter ze park." Bunnie and Antoine reached the park several minutes later and started looking for Piccard and Amy, when they heard a female voice, "Speaking of magic power, I have something here. It's called a super emerald." Antoine and Bunnie approached quietly as they saw Amy holding the yellow emerald in her hands and Piccard was eyeing it curiously. "Dark said perhaps I should give this to you, see what you make of it's power." As she started to hand it over, Piccard started talking. "I can already sense that it's power is immense. (Another rhyme. Doctor: Shut up Author!) I shall see what I can do." Amy put it on Piccard's lap and Piccard reached down for it as Bunnie and Antoine came over. "Hello Piccard, Amy." "Hello Antoine, Bunnie." Antoine and Bunnie took the bench opposite them as Piccard reached for the emerald.

As soon as his fingers touched it, he felt immense power surge through his body, like he was being pushed to the limit of his abilities, natural and magical. Of course, it did hurt, and he did yell as he was engulfed in a gold bubble. "Vat eez `appening?" Antoine asked as the bubble dissipated, and Antoine and Bunnie were shocked by what they saw, but Amy had seen it before. Piccard was floating on his seat. His armour had changed from blue to gold, his jeans were now a shade of white and he spoke with a soft tone of voice. "I should've scanned the emerald before I used it, I'm willing to bet it's comprised of dilithium." Antoine just looked on shocked. "Vat eez going on ere?" "Calm down Antoine." Piccard started, even amazing himself as to how tranquil this new energy was. "I, for as long as I can remember, have been able to fuse with dilithium and increase my power, but by now, I'm usually exhausted and on my knees." "I think I know." Piccard now turned to Amy, "Huh?" "I think because you fused with stable ore this time as opposed to unstable energy, it must have made you stable as well." Piccard chuckled, "Well, I certainly feel alright."

Of course a certain A.I. was working out how to divide the power of the emerald. "If we hook it up to our core, then we can power our systems and take out Piccard in relative safety." "I don't think so Xerxes, I'll do something that'll give both Piccard's a run for their money. Scan the medical database and find me Dark's file." At this point, D'sparil walked into the room and saw two faces on screens. One was a bright blue, the other was a deathly grey which made D'sparil wince whenever he looked at her. `I prefer her on the monitor's' ran through D'sparils mind. "Can I enquire what's going on?" "I intend to use the power of this emerald, combined with the D.N.A from Darks medical file, to bio-engineer a more powerful and obedient version of Piccard, that will only follow my commands and not defect to the enemy." D'sparil looked shocked, and he noticed the blue face was as well. "That's lunacy!" "I agree with D'sparil on this one, this plan is going to go wrong!" "I didn't ask for your opinion Xerxes, and if you don't get out of here in several seconds D'sparil, ill use that cape as a dishcloth. D'sparil was gone like a shot as Xerxes was left to start the plan. The A.I. transferred herself back to the control room. "Now is the time I let him know who I am, the time to reveal my I.D. has arrived." She activated the com, "Send in team 1-1-Alpha!"

Meanwhile, Piccard was just coming to grips with a stable power increase whilst talking with Antoine about sword training. "Of course I'll teach you some tricks." "Some of your moves ahre just supair." Piccard heard chuckling coming from the girls as he turned and heard Bunnie saying "Has the proud Mr. Colette actually asked someone for training?" Antoine went red and everyone laughed before Piccard heard another familiar voice. "Doctor to Piccard, come in." "What the? I forgot I had that." Piccard said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his com badge. "Piccard here, go ahead." "We're under attack, find Bunnie and Antoine and get back here now!" "Understood, Piccard out!" He put the badge back in his pocket and stood up, "We have to get back to the mansion now, their under attack!" That was all the incentive they needed as they stood and ran. Piccard, however, surprising himself in the sense that he could hover above the ground instead of running.

When they came to the mansion, an explosion in the road drew their attention as they saw Dark Piccard, Anaetheron and Cybos taking on a group of things that were behind barricades, throwing explosives. "Wait here." Piccard started running, and amazed himself when he managed to lift himself off the ground and used his magic to carry him as he sped. `Metal note. I can hover when upgraded.' Ran through his head as he approached the danger spot, narrowly missing an explosion that came his way. Deciding not to look up, he just charged, and heard an `oof' as he collided head on with something. Opening his eyes, he looked at what he hit, and was in shock. The creature looked like it had once been human, but had been mutated by a parasite. "Hybrids?" Piccard exclaimed as a grenade hit him full on. Piccard stood up and dusted himself off as the hybrid looked alarmed at him, Piccard then swung his fist around, smashing the creature in the side of his head and sending him flying.

As he turned, he noticed Dark chaingunning his way through the ranks and Anaetheron and Cybos using their physical strengths to beat the things to pulps. Piccard's trail of thought was shattered by a warcry, he looked on to see his dark side standing over a hybrid corpse. Dark smirked as he put on a bloodthirsty accent, "The warsong is supreme!" "That's nice, but you're not a member of the Warsong clan, you're a marine. But still, it was a good quote, be proud!" Dark looked at Piccard and dropped his chaingun. "Who are you? What have you done with Piccard?" "Chill out Dark, it's me!" Dark was amazed, "Light? I was right, the emeralds were made of Dilithium!"

They returned to their senses by a cry and saw the last hybrid fall. Piccard seemed to break into a cold sweat as he made his way back to the mansion. He overheard his dark side rummaging through the corpses. "Oo boy, a shout gun, MANY shells and a lot of grenades!" Antoine was shaking his head at Dark when he noticed Piccard walking though the door. Antoine took his leave and ran after him, "Why eez e so scared?" Antoine asked himself as he ran through the door and saw Piccard on the couch, still with golden armour. Everyone gave him weird looks, and Piccard managed to explain to them all the concept of dilithium and how it helped him react, before Sonic spoke up. "You can also use emeralds to increase your power?" "What do you mean also?" Sonic picked up an emerald from the table and concentrated hard. Then he seemed to rise into the air and shouted as his fur changed colour from blue to yellow. "I use the power of Emeralds to turn into super sonic. Tails, Knuckles and Shadow also possess this ability." Piccard seemed shocked, "So you're telling me that this is a `super form' that I'm in?" "That's the most logical explanation." Piccard laughed at this, "No offence, but `Super Piccard' sounds about as stupid as a Vulcan comedian." Sonic wondered what a Vulcan was, but decided to shrug it off.

After Piccard and Sonic finished talking, Piccard seemed to tense up. "Must be wearing off." He said as he bought his hands forward and held them in front of him. There was a flash as the emerald rematerialised in Piccard's hands and his armour turned back to normal. Piccard was a bit annoyed at one factor. "Shouldn't I be unconscious?" "Perhaps the emerald kept you stable as well?" Piccard smiled dryly as he slipped into deep thought.

"I was wondering before who was behind all this, when I first got here, I was completely in the dark. Then I discovered that you were behind them at first Dark side. After our fight, I was a bit shaky on the topic of how to defeat you. Then, you came to me on the basis of forming an alliance. We then managed to save Cybos from the mastermind and shrank him to a more normal size.

It was after this that I began to piece things together, You mentioned a `Bitch of an A.I.' to Cybos and I overheard the Spider Mastermind mention the `Machine Mother', I thought I was leaping to conclusions when I made a decision, but after we were attacked by the hybrids just then, I can see that my judgement was right. It is a female, It appeared on Citadel Station and it appeared on the UNN Von Braun, It has to be SHODAN!"

Dark's eyes went wide, "Are you sure about that?" "As sure as anything! If she's using hybrids, then it must be her." Piccard stood up, "My grandfather thwarted her attempts on the Von Braun and saved Earth from cyber-assimilation. Now, SHODAN settled on the nearest possible technological place, obviously another station, and is trying to assimilate this world." The Doctor chose this moment to step in, "You mean like the Borg?" "SHODAN is completely different to the Borg, The Borg only sought perfection by assimilating different races into their culture to create an ultimate race, whereas SHODAN seeks domination. Converting space into cyberspace and humanity into cybernetic life forms to carry out her every task!"

Of course, SHODAN at this time had just received word that her hybrids had been defeated, but she didn't consider it that big a loss. "It was enough, he knows who I am and that I'm here. It's only a question of time before we come face to face." Was all she said as Xerxes was starting to prepare a lab for the creation of what he considered SHODAN's worst project yet.

Wow! What a finish, may be the shortest yet, but I feel I made a hell of a lot of coverage. Besides, I had to finish it fast in case I got the lecture from someone who might not think I got good enough results, but I digress.

So, how was it? Good, Bad, worthy of a medal. Review, or else!

Piccard, leaving fast in a dust cloud!