The End of a New Beginning
With all of the Gaia Keys and Chaos Emeralds collected, and many of their allies at the ready, the Freedom Fighters are set to finally repair their broken world.
Not everyone is eager for things to go back to normal, though. Eggman rallies a handful of his subordinates for one last assault to obtain all he needs for total world domination, including Chip the Light Gaia and a powerful ancient weapon.
There is also the threat of Dark Gaia which, if left unchecked, could spell the end of everything.
The final chapter of the Shattered World Crisis is about to commence, and whoever emerges victorious will usher in a dawn of a new era.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: Eggman had built Eggmanland mainly to harvest the Dark Gaia Energy to strengthen his Death Egg. Unfortunately for him, the Freedom Fighters put a wrench in this plans as usual and, with Dark Gaia appearing, Eggmanland is completely destroyed and the doctor is forced to retreat for another day.
- Batman Gambit: While Nicole battles Phage for control of the Sky Patrol, the villainous AI provokes her into using the power of the Red Star Ring like before. Though overpowered, that was actually what Phage was counting on while delaying her. After the Battlebird Armada successfully abducts Chip, she overloads Nicole's systems before retreating. Though Nicole's handheld is fried afterwards, she was able to transfer to the Sky Patrol's for the rest of the arc.
- Big Damn Heroes: Gemerl is overwhelmed by the combined might of the Hooligans and Witchcarters, but Cream, Cheese and Big arrive to save him.
- Bookends: "Countdown to Chaos" kickstarted the Shattered World Crisis saga while this arc wraps it up. This emphasized by the Idiosyncratic Cover Art of both arcs.
- Combining Mecha: The Gaia Gate in Apotos was revealed to be a alternate access point to all seven Gaia Temples; a literal backdoor, one might say. Its true nature, however, is revealed to be a summoning rite that brings forth all of them to one spot and create a Gaia Colossus, an ancient mech powered by the seven Chaos Emeralds. Eggman activates it first in hopes of adding a new weapon to his arsenal for world conquest. After Sonic defeats him and rescues Chip, they use it to defeat an awakened Dark Gaia.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion:
- King Acorn fights Team Hooligans to prevent them from stealing the chest containing all of the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Keys. Despite his best efforts, he is outnumbered and outmatched with Bark knocking him out. He does knock Bean out, but it's not enough for him to destroy the vault.
- The Freedom Fighters manage to take down multiple Armada birds, but not the Armada as a whole thanks to their surprise attack.
- Rotor and Nicole are tasked with keeping the Death Egg from reaching the Eggmanland central spire that is holding all of the Dark Gaia Energy. Thanks to the Armada's earlier attack, the Sky Patrol's damaged state stood less of a chance than it would have in its top condition, and is eventually shot down. At the very least, they succeed in stalling the Death Egg when Dark Gaia begins taking its power back and destroying Eggmanland, forcing both Eggman and the Death Egg to retreat elsewhere.
- David vs. Goliath:
- Sky Patrol vs Death Egg
- Sonic vs Egg Dragoon
- Super Sonic & Chip/Gaia Colossus vs Perfect Dark Gaia
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Against all odds, the Freedom Fighters prevent Eggman from obtaining ultimate power. With the Chaos Emeralds and awakended Gaia Colossus reclaimed, Sonic and Chip work together to take down Dark Gaia in its complete form. Though this victory means that Chip must return to sleep before he has a chance to celebrate with his friends, he is forever grateful that he can experience everything with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters. With this, the planet is finally repaired and a new era begins.
- Final Battle: Everything has led up to this moment. Like many eons before in the "death-and-rebirth" cycle, Dark Gaia awakens by shattering the world from within (already accomplished this time by Eggman) and attempt to wipe out all life. Chip, the Light Gaia, is tasked with defeating it to save everyone. With Super Sonic's help, he succeeds, leading to the world being healed.
- Grand Finale: The final arc of the entire Sonic Unleashed adaptation, though the "Shattered" arc takes place at the same time in Sonic Universe.note
- History Repeats: Nicole's trademark handheld has suffered shakes, glitches, and beatings now and again in both universes, but it is the second time in the entire series that it has been destroyed. A canceled story later had Sally return to Dr. Ellidy's island to fix it.
- In the End, You Are on Your Own:
- Sally had a plan set up which involves all of the Freedom Fighters' allies across the globe keeping the Egg Army busy while her team takes the Gaia Keys and Chaos Emeralds to Apotos and activate the Gaia Gate, finally fixing the broken planet. Unfortunately, Eggman gets the drop on them with coordinated attack of the Battlebird Armada, Witchcarters and Hooligans, to take all the power for himself. The Freedom Fighters are forced to go straight to Eggmanland without any backup, and piloting a barely functioning Sky Patrol, to strike back.
- By the time Dark Gaia finally emerges, Sonic and Chip are able to have the power they need to face it head-on. While Tails and Sally want to help, Rotor decides it's not possible. He acknowledges that Sonic is used to dealing with world-ending titans in his Super form and Chip and Dark Gaia are basically gods when at their peak. All Sonic's friends can do at this point is watch the battle from afar and cheer the two on.
- Mirror Match: Of sorts. As Gemerl fights Metal Sonic, he recognizes the cobalt hedgehog as the "original ability-stealer with an identity crisis". Metal was once able to copy bio-data as "Neo Metal Sonic", while Gemerl used to change forms and assimilate with machinery when he was under Eggman's command. His predecessor, Emerl was the one who can copy abilities.
- Near-Villain Victory: Eggman manages to throw a surprise attack on the heroes while stealing the Gaia Keys and Chaos Emeralds and abducting Chip, then occupy Apoptos' Gaia Gate to summon the Gaia Colossus. Had the Freedom Fighters not rushed in to Eggmanland to stop him, Dr. Eggman would have actually won this.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Like the game, Eggman created Eggmanland to harvest the Dark Gaia Energy. The key difference is that the game has him wanting to control Dark Gaia. Here, he simply wants a new power source for the Death Egg. Not once had he ever considered reassembling an Eldritch Abomination, but at least he unknowingly helped clean up some of the mess he made, allowing Sonic and Chip to fight the world-ending monster and restart the cycle properly.
- Oh, Crap!: When Nicole finds that the Sky Patrol systems are malfunctioning, she finds in horror that a Tails Doll is hacking it. It gets worse when she sees Phage return, and Sally believes Tails Doll has sent her plans to Eggman for a preemptive strike.
- Status Quo Is God: After Dark Gaia begins absorbing the rest of its power from all over the world, the Dark Gaia Energy within Sonic is extracted as well, finally freeing him from his Werehog transformations. After its defeat, Chip seals the dark energies back to the core as the planet is whole again, ridding the world of the shadow creatures forever.
- Synchronous Episodes: Takes place at the same time as Sonic Universe's "Shattered", as Knuckles and Amy are closing in on the reassembly of the Master Emerald.
- Trash the Set:
- The Freedom Fighters' Sky Patrol base is taken down twice in the arc; blown up by the Battle Bird Armada, and later shot down by the Death Egg.
- Eggmanland is destroyed and sinks into the ocean by the time Dark Gaia regains its full power.
- The Worf Effect: While Super Sonic is able to tank one of Dark Gaia's energy blasts, the fact that he says he "actually felt that", assuming there's a bit of pain, separates it from most of the enemies/monsters he had faced since he is usually invulnerable in this state.
