Tails the Fox
Chapter 27 - Inner Darkness
Boss 18 - Dark Punchy

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?

Punchy charged at Illusi. That shrew had gotten on his last nerve, and Punchy was determined to stop him once and for all. Punchy aimed a punch at Illusi's face, but Illusi was defended by a wrongo that smacked Punchy aside. Illusi shook his head. "You say you're not a dark one. How quickly you forget..." Punchy faced Illusi, growling slightly as he listened to what the illusionist had to say. "You have been fighting to take the Master Emerald from its home." Illusi said. Punchy looked at him like he was crazy. "It's mine! That emerald was stolen from me!" Illusi ignored him as he continued. "You stole the government's Chaos Emerald!"
"Shut up!" Punchy snapped. Illusi looked at Punchy questioningly. "Such anger! Are you afraid of the truth?"" Punchy grew defensive. "What truth?! You... You're a liar!" Illusi shook his head. "I told no lies. You stole that Chaos Emerald. You serve Dr. Eggman!"
"I serve no one!" Punchy shouted in his rage. Illusi glared at Punchy, and let out a frustrated sigh. "You call that better? You serve no one. I suppose so. You don't even care for your friends..." An uneasy silence followed, as Punchy looked guiltily at the floor. Finally, he looked up at Illusi. "Why do you care, anyway? Who are you!?" Illusi grinned at this, and stepped backward away from Punchy. "The question is.... who, are, you!"

Suddenly, a dark vortex appeared on the ground between them. Rising up from it was a creature that looked much like Punchy, and at the same time looked very different. It was a black echidna, with green fur surrounding his eyes. It's arms were also green, and it wore red gloves that matched its eyes. The vortex vanished, leaving the black and green echidna standing between Punchy and Illusi, facing Punchy. "Take a good look at what you are!" Illusi shouted. "You are a being of supreme darkness!" Punchy clenched his fists, ready to fight. His voice quivered with uncertainty as he spoke. "That's not me... It can't be..." Illusi moved away from the two echidnas, and spoke to Punchy in a menacing tone. "It is the very image of your soul! You wouldn't try to fight yourself, would you?" Punchy was having a terrible internal conflict. All the facts said this was true, but Punchy would not believe it. "It's... not... true!!" The room seemed to fill with darkness as Punchy cried out in protest. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The black echidna, Dark Punchy, interrupted Punchy's internal conflict with a forceful jab at his gut, causing Punchy to fall over in pain. "You cannot fight the darkness!" Illusi said. "You ARE the darkness!" Punchy slowly rose to his feet. Dark Punchy shot his fist at him again, but this time Punchy caught the attack, and pushed Dark Punchy away. "I am not a dark creature! I will defeat this thing!" Dark Punchy cackled at him. His echoing voice sounded just like Punchy's, but somehow darker. "This is your destiny, fool! You can't win!"
"I will!" Punchy shouted back. The room and everything in it almost seemed to vanish to Punchy. It was just him and his shadow, about to begin a battle for supremacy. Illusi watched from the shadows, his wrongos surrounding him as shields, just in case.

Punchy sprang into action, attacking Dark Punchy with fists of fury. Dark Punchy was being clobbered, but seemed unfazed as he shielded himself from the attacks. "Chaos Shroud!" Dark Punchy retaliated by calling a shroud of dark energy that wrapped over him, protecting him from Punchy's attacks. Dark Punchy smashed through the shroud and knocked Punchy back into a wall! Punchy fell to the floor, but quickly rushed back to his feet. "You want to fight like that, do ya? Fine! Chaos Avelanche!" Pieces of the floor were flung at Dark Punchy, who simply called another shroud and easily endured the attack. "Is that the best you can do? You reject the darkness too much!" Dark Punchy said, cackling at Punchy. "Give it up! I'll take it from here!"

Punchy responded by rushing at Dark Punchy, plowing into him with all his might! The two echidnas tumbled over, struggling against each other, until finally Dark Punchy threw Punchy off of him. "Pathetic fool!" the black echidna growled. Punchy charged back to him and threw his fists at him. Dark Punchy responded in kind, causing their fists to connect! They pushed each other with their fists, and once again Dark Punchy overpowered Punchy, knocking him on his back. Before Dark Punchy could make a follow up attack, Punchy called out, "Chaos Blast!" A chaotic explosion followed, sending a flaming Dark Punchy tumbling away. He stood back up quickly, barely reacting to the flames. Punchy stood up as well, and looked on in awe as Dark Punchy simply shook the flames off. "The power of darkness makes me invincible! You can't overpower me!"

"This is impossible..." Punchy muttered. "Nothing hurts him... What IS he?!"
"I'm you, Punchy!" Dark Punchy responded. "A stronger and better you, that is. You can never beat me. A weak being of darkness cannot defeat a dark lord such as myself!"
Punchy grinned and replied confidently, "That's interesting, but I'm not weak OR a being of darkness. I don't follow your rules."

Dark Punchy had a constant air of anger about him. He snarled at Punchy's statements. "Lies and foolishness... That's what makes you weak. If you don't believe me, I'll prove it! Chaos Inferno!" Dark Punchy fired the inferno beam at Punchy, who quickly dodged and hit Dark Punchy with Chaos Avelanche, knocking him over. "I told you, you can't overpower me!" Dark Punchy growled as he rose to his feet, then into the air. "It's time to finish this!!!"

Dark energy resonated throughout the room, banging up everything in the area. The wrongos were struggling to hold back the dark power, but Illusi did not stir. He merely watched intently as the dark energy pounded on Punchy, as though the air itself was trying to kill him. Punchy struggled against this, and slowly approached Dark Punchy. The black echidna was cackling manically, and was covered in a dark shroud, which Punchy found was difficult to penetrate. "I am you, fool!" Dark Punchy shouted. "You can't overpower yourself! This is a fight you can never win!"

The dark energy forced Punchy backward, and Punchy then fell to his knees, unable to stand any longer. He was bruised and battered, and it seemed hopeless. Punchy thought it was surely over. "He's right... I can't overpower him. This just isn't working...." then, he realized something. "Wait a minute! He's not me, I'm me! But if he's really part of me, then I should be able to suppress him! I can't use brute power, but maybe I can use willpower!" Punchy struggled back to his feet, no longer acting on strength. He was working under sheer willpower now, and slowly stepped to Dark Punchy, allowing the dark energy to lift him into the air in front of him. Dark Punchy glared at Punchy, eyes full of hatred and contempt. Punchy, no longer trying to overpower the black echidna, simply reached his hand out to him. His hand passed effortlessly through the shroud, and grabbed Dark Punchy by the throat. "W-what!? H-how!?" Dark Punchy gasped. The dark energey suddenly weakoned, just long enough for Punchy to launch a punch with his other hand and smash right into Dark Punchy's chest! In fact, his fist passed right through Dark Punchy's chest! "You really are part of me..." Punchy muttered. "And because of that, if I choose to, I can supress you!!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Dark Punchy screamed as a bright light emanated from where Punchy's fist had gone through him. Dark Punchy exploded into a blinding flash of light, which Illusi watched through a pair of sunglasses. As the light faded, the room returned to the way it was before the battle began, undamaged, with Punchy standing with his eyes shut tight in the center of the room. Punchy slowly opened his eyes to see Illusi standing in front of him, clapping. Punchy rubbed his eyes, then gave Illusi a confused look. "What are you clapping for? I just beat your monster!" Illusi just laughed. "Monster? There was no monster. That was an illusion, crafted to look like you." Punchy crossed his arms. "It didn't look like me one bit!" Illusi laughed again, then turned serious. "So, do you understand why I did this?" Punchy looked up at Illusi and replied in a very serious tone. "I don't care. Whatever your intentions, one thing is clear! I am who I choose to be! I am Punchy the echidna! Not a dark creature, not Knuckles." Illusi put his hands on his hips. "Oh, really?" he said. Punchy smiled. "I'll prove it to you yet! You'll see!"

Suddenly, the whole warship shook fiercely! It sounded as though they had crashed, until finally the shaking stopped and the engines powered down. Vector's voice was heard on the PA system. "Attention passengers! We have landed in the ocean! Grab a plane or a boat or somethin' and get to the shore!" the PA was left on as Espio spoke to Vector, "Nice crash."
"Oh, man, you almost killed us!" Charmy added. "What? I just craftily saved us all! You're all nuts! And turn off that microphone!" Vector replied.

Illusi stepped aside. "You can take the Chaos Emerald now. Farewell, Punchy the echidna!" Illusi vanished with his usual puff of smoke. Punchy smiled with the knowledge that Illusi was not his foe after all, and pulled the pink Chaos Emerald out of the engine. His expression grew more serious as he turned to leave the room. "My descent to darkness continues... How will I ever escape becoming that monster?" he muttered. "And... could I really be an experiment?" that was a question he had pondered for quite some time. He thought for a moment. "The secret lies with the Master Emerald! I have to find it before Knuckles! So, I'd better see how Rainbow is doing..." With that, Punchy began his search for a plane he could hijack in order to escape the warship before it sinks. This was it. The last job he would do for Eggman was now complete. It was time to end his battle with Knuckles once and for all, and claim the Master Emerald!

To be continued...