Written by Joshua David Tarwater
Special Thanks - @Cutegirlmayra
Illustration - SmilesFPS (SmilesFPS www.twitter.com)
Logo Design - Xenoko (XenokoYT www.twitter.com)

♪ ~ [Dream Weaver ~ Shunsuke Tsuchiya ~ Another Eden Original Soundtrack]

         “You can hope to flee from me Medium!”

         “Can’t we talk about this instead!”

         “And allow you to sully my ears with Dreaded Yoluku’s words? Never!”

Storm clouds bringing blizzard and lightning.
A lightning rod array set up for a purpose long lost.
A circular shape covered in antenna like rods.
Highways of geometric patterns leading to it from all sides.
Ghost waiting for unsuspecting victims in the inner tunnels.
Two hedgehogs and a Machine Knight in battle.

          ~Ooh~! Why is Rapier so stubborn about killing me! We both want to stop Yolk, so why won’t she listen to me!”

          ~No! I don’t have time to worry about that. Sonic and I came out here to this weird structure to see what it was, and then Rapier and a whole bunch of her machine knight friends showed up. We’ve been fighting since, but it isn’t that easy. I can predict where Rapier is going to attack, but she has this ability that Sonic does too where they get really fast really quick, and I can’t do it. But it hurts just when Rapier bumps into me like that.~

         “Yeah, enough of that!” Sonic shouted as he smashed into Rapier, their respective Boost Auras causing them to bounce off each other and around Rosy. Sonic broke out of his boost though and pulled Rosy into his arms as soon as she caught up with him. “Hold up Amy. I’ve got a plan.”

         As Rapier spun around to see where the two hedgehogs had disappeared to, the white Machine Knight saw no sign of them.

         “A Ring Gate perhaps. No, not while the Yoluku Device persists. Then, inside. What are you planning Ring Mage, Sonic the Hedgehog?”

         “So, I’m bait and the key to winning the fight?” Rosy asked bewildered as she ran along through the giant antenna array’s insides. Following Sonic through and around collapsed pipes and the machinery for the giant propellers which kept the structure aloft, she frowned as she was presented with his plan. “I really wish we could just talk.”

         “A shame Ms. Tin Can isn’t fond of giving us that chance. We’ll just have to knock her down a few pegs first, but I can’t get the Ring Energy I need to go against her Boost without gathering up more Rings. So, for the moment play with her for just a bit. Sorry it’s going to be rough, but…”

          ~I couldn’t fault Sonic for his plan, and I already swore that I wanted to be able to help him and not have to be carried by him for this whole adventure. Still, Rapier is awfully fast and determined.

          ~What am I saying! I have my cards and they can help me predict her attacks while I buy Sonic the time he needs! As I long as I don’t get too many Rings, I shouldn’t have to worry about that creep Yolk either.

          ~Yes! Here goes!~

         Diving into a pipe and curling into a tight ball so the ghost that challenged her could not stop her, Rosy was launched back to the main outer catwalk.

         “Then you’ve accepted your fate,” Rapier challenged as Rosy shot back into her field of vision.

         “I accepted my fate a long time ago and being killed by you isn’t it!” Rosy countered and gripped the shoulder puff of her leotard tightly as she ran.

         How she could mix dousing and reading the future as she did was her own little secret, but it afforded Rosy the chance to at least try to dodge Rapier’s attacks. She was not always successful, but the Rings she gathered and collected again whenever she failed kept her running and desperately waiting for Sonic to return so she could move on to the next part of their plan.

         “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Sonic’s voice suddenly appeared a moment before he did as well as the blue aura of light that accompanied his Boost. “I should know better than to keep a lady waiting.”

         “Your jokes are a waste of your last breaths, Sonic the Hedgehog.”

          “I don’t know,” Sonic laughed. “I’d rather go down smiling than scowling like you.”

          ~I don’t know if Rapier just had a short temper or if her pride kept her engaged with Sonic, but I couldn’t waste the opportunity. Sonic is clumsier than he looks so I have to be quick before he gets hurt. Fortunately, his appearance allowed me to dive into another pipe unnoticed.

          ~What’s our plan? Sonic while we’ve been fighting noticed that the controls for the lightning rods are inside the big ring around the whole antenna building so while he distracts Rapier I go inside and turn on one of the antennas. When Sonic sees it, he’ll lure Rapier to one so when she tries to use her lightning powers she’ll get pulled to the rod. It’s not easy though. I have to protect myself from the ghosts in here and predict when Rapier will use her lightning so I can fully activate the rod and allow Sonic a free chance to hit her.~

         “Kyaa~!” Rosy screamed as the control panel she had gone to was blown apart and she got sucked into the updraft and launched back outside.

“Uh-oh!” Sonic exclaimed as he saw the consequences of Rapier destroying the lightning rod. “Well, better than nothing I guess, as long as we can wear her down before we run out of lightning rods. We’ll just have to tough this out Amy.”

          ~Toughing out Rapier’s attack wasn’t easy, especially once she realized what was going on and started calling her machine knight friends in to destroy the rods. Having to fight them, dodge Rapier, buy Sonic time to collect Rings when he ran out of Ring Energy, and fend off the ghosts so I could activate the lightning rods was enough to make my head spin. But I think Sonic being able to keep his Boost going whenever he destroyed a machine knight and revealed a white fairy inside was able to buy me extra time too. And then, somehow… Somehow…

♪ ~ [In the Sea of Corruption ~ Joe Hisaishi ~ Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Soundtrack: Towards the Faraway Land]

         “I yield!” Rapier declared, holding a hand up to stop Sonic’s next attack.

All around her the destruction of the lightning rod antenna array was plain as day to Rapier. She could scarcely count the number of machine knights that Sonic and Rosy had reduced to scrap, and her own armor, normally the smooth appearance of opaque white bubbles stretched over a clockwork skeleton was battered, sparking, and venting steam all over. She was in no condition to continue fighting. And if she risked it all…

         “This defeat is mine and I plead of thee thine mercy, Sonic the Hedgehog,” Rapier nigh begged, Sonic skidding to a stop.

         Landing nearby, Rosy saw that the fight was over and hurried over, trying not to be condescending as she placed her hands on her hips, obviously fed up. “Why couldn’t we just talk before Sonic and I had to beat you up so much.”

         “You know full well, Medium,” Rapier warned Rosy, glaring at the hedgehog girl with her glowing ivory eyes. “I am sworn to prevent the waking of Yoluku at all costs. Allowing you to survive, it is a failure irredeemable of a Sword Knight.”

         “You’re not about to start on some honor bound ritual of killing yourself for failing, are you?” Sonic asked wearily as Rapier’s sword flickered and sparked uselessly.

         “And provide you the chance to destroy one of the Machine Gods? I am no such fool, Sonic the Hedgehog. Facing your might head on I see I was right to fear you. I have no doubt that you can destroy the Machine Gods and leave no power to hold back that of Dreaded Yoluku’s.”

         Falling back into a slumped and helpless sitting position, Rapier looked up at the small planet in the sky, forever blocking the sun and casting the world in a star filled daylight.

         “No, it’s better that I live with my shame and protect the Machine God. Though I still advise you not to indulge Dreaded Yoluku, Sonic the Hedgehog. If you are truly from lands far from the Far Lands, then return to them. Linger here no longer and plumb not their true depths. It is the only way you can hope to stop Yoluku.”

         “I wish it was that easy,” Sonic sighed and knelt beside Rapier, pointing a thumb back at Rosy. “But you see that Red Gear Ring in her eye. As long as that’s there I can’t go home, even if I knew how. I can’t make a Ring Gate out of here, and I’m betting that’s because of the seal keeping old Eggs Benedict contained.”

         “You are a wise one, Ring Mage,” Rapier laughed and cast another look to the skies above.

          ~It’s so sad. Even being beaten like she was, Rapier refused to talk and stayed true to her duty. But I can only wonder what the Machine Gods are and why if she died it would endanger one. But she refused to talk to Sonic and me more and we were free to find that the Red Gear Ring of the Yolk Device was in the heart of the big lightning rod at the center of the whole array. With it destroyed, Sonic and I were free to return to exploring the Zone and learning what we could about Yolk and the Far Lands. Though, from what Rapier said, we’re just on the outskirts of them and haven’t even begun to see their true nature. Something about that makes me feel very uncomfortable.~

         “Hmhmhmhmhm…,” laughter must unsettling reached Rapier where she still rested long after Sonic and Rosy left. Laughter that made the Machine Knight reach for her sword and force it to come back to weak life once more.

         The crackling lightning of the blade refused to solidify into her namesake rapier, yet Rapier rose to her feet and took the blade tightly in hand. “Then what I have heard is true– Ghk?!”

         Looking down, her eyes beginning to flicker out, Rapier saw the sword that pierced her armor from behind emerging from her chest. Dropping her sword, she fell to a knee as a stream of steam escaped around the blade of a saber.

         “Trai…tor…”

         Her eyes fading out, Rapier’s lifeless form crashed to the ground, a bolt of lightning marking the betrayal. Extracting the saber from the lifeless form, an autogolem, or rather machine knight of a meter and a half height stepped back. It was impossibly thin, a suit of red armor fitted to a clockwork skeleton that had a tiny head resembling some mixture of eagle and snake that red glowing eyes glared out of. From each of its shoulders a pylon rose and served as the scabbard for the red knight’s sabers.

         “Hmhmhmhmhm…,” the red knight continued to laugh. “I must say, Rapier, Claymore put up a far better struggle. But alas, it matters not in the end. Master Yoluku seeks to be entertained, and to that end…”

         With heartless efficiency, the red knight kicked Rapier’s lifeless form from the lightning rod array into the clouds. Watching it disappear in the snow and lightning of the Zone, it continued to laugh.

         “Hmhmhmhmhm… Enjoy your rest at long last Rapier. The time of the Knights of the Sword has ended long before our waking. It is simply time for the world to leap back into its true form. The form that Master Yoluku desires for it. Hmhmhmhmhm… I can’t wait to see it, not that I ever will.”