AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Okay, so here's the situation. All us fans saw what happened in the final episode of the SatAM series of Sonic the Hedgehog – Robotnik supposedly killed after the major explosion in Robotropolis, Snively determined to take over Mobius, and those creepy red eyes leering out at him from the dark. If there had been a third season (and there should have been!) we would have found out that those eyes belong to Ixis Naugus, the bat-rhino- scorpion wizard trapped within the Void with King Acorn and (wait for it…) Dr. Robotnik! That's right, the doc must have had void technology in his ship, which teleported him in there. The third season would have seen all 3 of them escape the Void, leaving Naugus to take the position of tyranical despot set on world domination, Robotnik get stuck as his lackey, and Snively lose everything and have no choice but to defect to the Freedom Fighters.
My Sonic the Hedgehog series takes place somewhere after all that in the lost third series. Naugus was deviously tricked back into the Void, King Acorn has assumed command of the Freedom Fighters, Sally has locked Snively in the Knothole Prison to make sure that he can't betray them, and Robotnik has undergone quite a change in appearance, acquired from all the torturing he received from Naugus, and giving him the look that he has in the Sonic Adventure series. To add to that, many characters from the Sonic video games have made their way into the series, as those who will have read "Shadow's… and Sonic's Adventure, 2!" will already know. This fic takes place after that one, which is based on the events of Sonic Adventure 2.
Enjoy!
Blue streak speeds by,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Too fast for the naked eye,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sonic! He can really move!
Sonic! He's got an attitude!
Sonic! He's the fastest thing ali-eive!
Look out when he storms through,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Don't doubt what he can do,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sonic! He can really move!
Sonic! He's got an attitude!
Sonic! He's the fastest thing alive!
He's the fastest thing alive!
He's the fastest thing alive!
SONIC ADVENTURE 3: Part 1 – Lord of the Rings
It was a beautiful, sunny day on the Floating Island, and as far as Knuckles the Echidna was concerned, things couldn't be better. The guardian of the isle in the clouds was spending the afternoon relaxing in the shade under his favourite giant mushroom, and telling his new partner and friend about the time he first met Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Get outta town!" Shadow exclaimed, his crimson eyes wide. "You mean that Eggman actually had you believing that Sonic and Tails were after the Master Emerald?"
"Got that right," Knuckles murmured, pulling on his shades as the sun came out from behind a cloud.
"I don't believe this… Eggman? That stupid, balding, overweight Overlander that I so easily hoodwinked managed to dupe you?" the black hedgehog asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
Knuckles glared at him. "Hey, the evidence was on his side. Sonic did have the Chaos Emeralds, after all. Besides, Eggman's pretty clever. I heard he has an I.Q. of 300," he retorted.
Shadow laughed. "Yeah, right! My little finger's smarter than that wide load. If he's so smart, why doesn't he discover a diet food that actually works?"
Knuckles had to grin at that. "An unsolved mystery," he chuckled. He punched Shadow lightly on the shoulder and smiled at him. "Ya know, I wouldn't have said it a week ago, but you've got an attitude that's a lot like Sonic's."
Shadow smiled but said nothing, thinking that a week ago, he too would have said that he and Sonic couldn't be more different. The reason for this was that a week ago, Shadow was trying to bring about events that would have meant the destruction of the entire planet. Shadow just happened to be a secret military project that had been abandoned and locked away fifty years ago. The black hedgehog who had been called, 'The Ultimate Life Form,' had slept for fifty years (and not aged, because of immortality) until Dr. Ivo Robotnik (or as his friends, and even Shadow himself now called him, 'Eggman,') had freed him. Shadow had immediately gone about plotting the destruction of Mobius that had been biologically programmed into him, to avenge his only friend, Maria Robotnik (a late cousin of Eggman, and granddaughter of Shadow's creator, Professor Gerald Robotnik). Luckily he had been shown the error of his ways by Sonic's friend Amy Rose in time for him to remember Maria's dying wish for him to save the world, and managed to help Sonic prevent a falling space station from colliding with the planet at the very last second. He wouldn't be here, having this conversation with Knuckles, if he hadn't driven away his desire for destruction. Would he still be alive though? He stayed awake at nights sometimes, just trying to figure out if he really was immortal. He had been alive for over fifty years but didn't feel a day over 16. Possibly 17. But was there another explanation for this? Perhaps he had been in suspended animation, or something?
Shadow sighed. His origins would probably remain shrouded in mystery for the rest of his life – however long that may be. The majority of his secrets had died with his creator, who had been executed not long before Shadow was locked away. Professor Gerald wasn't likely to return from the grave to answer Shadow's many questions.
"It's not easy, is it?" Knuckles asked, interrupting Shadow's thoughts. "Having to grow up alone, never knowing if you're living your life the way the ones you owe life to expected you to?"
"No… it's not…" Shadow blinked. "But… how did…?"
"I've seen that look on your face. Every time I look in the mirror," Knuckles replied.
Shadow looked surprised. "You grew up alone too?"
Knuckles nodded. "The echidnas used to be a thriving race on the Floating Island," he explained. "But they all mysteriously vanished, and when I was 10, my father too." Knuckles looked down at the grass, as if hoping to find answers. "He spent my entire life training me to be guardian. It's almost as if… as if he was expecting me to take his place. Sooner than I thought." Knuckles frowned. "A lot of other people have had to grow up without parents too. From what Sonic and Tails have told me, a lot of the Freedom Fighters became orphans during Robotnik's coup. Most of their parents were killed or roboticised during the invasion, and even more over the 10 odd years since. King Acorn, Princess Sally's father, was imprisoned in an alternate zone until recently. One of the most tragic things is that Robotnik took over not all that long after Mobotropolis had just won the Great War, against the Overlanders. They thought that they'd be able to have lives of peace again."
Shadow went silent again. 'Of all the species on this planet,' he thought quietly to himself, 'Overlanders must be the most warlike and unpleasant.' Still he couldn't deny that some humans were okay. Like Maria… Shadow's heart gave a pang as he thought of his fallen friend. 'Oh Maria…'
Shadow didn't have long to dwell on these thoughts, as a large tremor shook the entire island, knocking both he and Knuckles backwards. "What was that?!?" Shadow exclaimed, trying to get to his feet.
Knuckles grunted and grabbed the mushroom's stalk to push himself up. "A quake like that can only mean someone's messing with the Master Emerald! And if there's one thing I hate, it's someone messing with the Master Emerald!" he growled.
"No probs, grab my arm!" Shadow yelled, reaching into his backpack. "I'll have us there before you can say Chaos Control!"
Knuckles closed his hand around Shadow's other arm as the black hedgehog pulled out a shining green gemstone bigger than his clenched fist. Shadow had studied the powers of the Chaos Emeralds before his imprisonment, and knew a few of their secrets. "Chaos Control!" he ordered the jewel, which in response glowed brighter than usual and emitted green rays, before vanishing in a blaze of light, taking Shadow and Knuckles with it.
**********
In the Great Meadow, Sonic and Tails knew nothing of Shadow and Knuckles' concerns. Sonic was giving his young sidekick another one of their heavy training sessions that they both enjoyed, because they required lots of speed. Today's lesson involved Sonic attempting to pass on one of his cooler moves to Tails – the Super Peelout Manoeuvrer.
"Now Tails, this is not an easy move to pull off," the hedgehog lectured. "It takes a lot of patience, concentration, and most important of all… speed!" he grinned.
Tails grinned too. "So how do I do it Sonic?" he asked.
Sonic punched his hand into his fist. "Okay double wag, first thing I have to do is spin my legs around really fast. Now you can't rotate you feet quite fast enough for that, so let's see your alternative."
Tails nodded and spun his twin tails around so that they spun like helicopter blades, propelling him forward. "How's that?" he asked, running circles around Sonic.
Sonic smiled. "Great, but here's the catch – you have to do it standing still!"
Tails skidded to a halt. "Standing still?" he asked, looking perplexed.
"Watch." Sonic demonstrated, whirring his feet around whilst remaining in the same spot. "Now you try it!" he called.
Tails looked apprehensive, but tried it anyway. His spinning tails at first continued propelling him forward, but after a few goes he got the hang of it.
"Great!" Sonic cheered, coming to a stop. "Now here's where it gets really hard. Watch closely, bro…" Sonic started whirring his feet again, but this time instead of the regular twin round red blurs that were his sneakers, Tails now saw the outline of a figure eight. "Whoa! Cool Sonic!" he breathed, jaw gaping. Sonic did a backflip and landed back on his feet, taking a bow. "Not bad, huh?" he asked, wiping his brow. "It'll give you a major speed boost, if you can pull it off without tripping yourself up."
Tails looked worried again though. "I can't do that!" he moaned. "It's too hard!"
Sonic tussled his hair reassuringly. "Sure you can little buddy! You think you have it hard? I have to get my legs doing that! Spinning your tails around in a figure eight should be much easier."
Tails thought about this for a moment, then realised that Sonic was right, and started spinning his tails again. However, a crash from behind them sent both Sonic and Tails spinning around, to see their friend Dulcy the dragon sitting up dazed on the ground, rubbing her face. "Chin pad," she muttered. "The dragon needs a chin pad."
Sonic laughed and walked over to her. "You okay Dulce? What's up?"
Dulcy smiled at the two friends and cricked her neck back into place. "I'm fine, Sonic. Sally just sent me to find you…"
Sonic immediately swung his leg backwards and started revving it up. "Right! Comin' Sal!"
Dulcy held out her hands and waved them back and forth. "No, wait Sonic! She just got a message on Nicole – your Uncle Chuck wants to see you both."
Sonic stopped and raised his eyebrows. "Uncle Chuck?" he asked. That was interesting. Uncle Chuck was one of the few roboticised Mobians that had managed to regain his free will, and worked in Robotropolis as a spy for the Freedom Fighters. Apart from that, he was the only family that Sonic had left. Sonic was orphaned at an early age, thanks to Robotnik. Sonic couldn't remember either of his parents, but had been told that his father, Julian Hedgehog, had been the first victim of the dreaded roboticiser, which had been a tool of medicine that Chuck had invented, only to have it sabotaged by Robotnik, turning it to a tool of war. Sonic's mother, Bernadette, had suffered the same fate not long afterwards. Uncle Chuck and his dog, Muttski, had been the only family that the young hedgehog could remember, and he'd lost them too. Sure, he'd gotten Uncle Chuck's memory and free will back, but hardly ever saw him, due to his work behind enemy lines. Sonic sighed, pulling his mind away from his lost family and back to the business at hand. "Did he say what's up?"
Dulcy shook her head. "He just said that he needed to see you and Sally pronto. She sent me to help find you."
Sonic nodded. "Okay, so where IS Sal?" he asked.
"Right here, Sonic!" came the reply, as the Princess came running out of the bushes, panting. She stooped down, trying to get her breath back. "Had to clear it with Dad," she explained, wiping her brow.
"Cool. Let's do it then," Sonic grinned.
Tails grabbed Sonic's arm excitedly. "Can I come too, Sonic? Can I, can I, can I?" he asked.
"Okay with me, T2," Sonic shrugged, glancing at the Princess. "Sal?"
Sally hesitated, as she always did when Tails wanted to do something potentially dangerous. Tails probably had done more for the Freedom Fighters' cause than plenty of others in Knothole… Antoine was a prime example there. Despite that though, she always had a little doubt in her mind, because he was about 5 years younger than the rest of them. He had just been a baby when Robotnik took over. Still…
"Okay honey, you can come," Sally smiled, climbing on Dulcy's back. Tails cheered and jumped onto the dragon's saddle, between Sonic and Sally.
"Please observe that the fasten seatbelt and no smoking lights are on," Dulcy grinned, flapping her wings.
Sally rolled her eyes. "Seatbelts," she moaned as the dragon took off. "You really ought to consider that one, Dulcy…"
**********
"You said you'd have us there before you could say Chaos Control!"
"No, I said I'd have us there before YOU could say Chaos Control. And I did!"
"Before I did say it, pal. I easily could have…"
"Will you two stop arguing and give me a hand over here?!?"
Knuckles and Shadow looked up. They had reappeared right beside the Master Emerald shrine, but had been so absorbed with their discussion that they had forgotten why they had teleported there in the first place. Now they could see that their friend Mighty the Armadillo was surrounded by robots, yet still putting up one heck of a fight. Several sparking droids lay nearby, damaged beyond repair with large holes in their torsos or heads. They were some of the strangest looking things that Shadow had ever seen… and he had seen the Artificial Chaos robots. These ones were shaped like humans, only shorter and wider than most would be. All wore jetpacks, clutched laser rifles, and were painted in red with two yellow stripes coming across their chests. Their heads were small, silver semi-circles, with glistening red eyes that flashed angrily at the armadillo who stood in their way. One noticed Shadow and Knuckles' appearance, and fired a blast at them. Shadow jumped forward and Knuckles dodged backwards, leaving the shot to bounce harmlessly off a rock they had been standing in front of.
"Whoa!" Shadow gasped. "What are these guys?!?"
"Eggrobos," Knuckles grunted. "Eggman creations!"
He remembered all too well his first encounter with these things, when he'd been making life a pain for Sonic and Tails. As if he hadn't had his hands full trying to keep those two busy, these maniacs kept on attacking him in various assault ships, like the ones their obese master used against Sonic and Tails.
Shadow frowned. "Alright then!" he yelled, running forward.
Knuckles grabbed him and pulled him back though. "Wait Shadow! I need you to get the rest of the Chaotix over here, pronto! It looks like there's more of them coming!" he exclaimed, pointing towards a group of unmistakeable shapes flying steadily closer.
Shadow frowned. "I can handle the Egg-bozos," he growled.
Knuckles shook his head. "Shadow, please! We don't have time for this! We need reinforcements…"
Shadow sighed and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Chaos Control," before disappearing in a blaze of green light. Knuckles paid him no further attention, but leapt immediately into the fray, doing a mid-air somersault to land beside Mighty.
"You okay, Might?" he asked, putting up his fists in a defensive stance.
Mighty grunted as he disabled another Eggrobo with a smashing uppercut. "Me? I'm great! Been exchanging moves with these fellas," he grinned, ducking another laser blast. "They don't seem to think very highly of my 'Mighty Wallop' though," he added, slamming both his fists down hard on the bot's head, causing it to retract into its torso. Eggrobos weren't built to do that though, and this particular one malfunctioned. Knuckles laughed as he smashed apart another one that was closing in on him.
"Really? Can't imagine why. Perhaps they'll like my 'Knuckles Sandwich' better!"
"Bet I can wreck more than you!"
"Hey no fair, you already have a head start!"
Knuckles and Mighty continued to destroy every Eggrobo that was stupid enough to get close to them. While Knuckles couldn't boast Mighty's extraordinarily powerful strength, he could certainly hold his own against a hoard of second-rate robots. His connection with the Master Emerald gave him an added edge, making him quicker and tougher than he would be without it. Despite all that though, Knuckles realised that things were looking grim. More of the robots were surrounding them, and while they were hopeless shots and not all that tough, it would only take one lucky laser, and he and Mighty would be getting scrapped off the ground. It could be a long afternoon… or a short one…
Mighty seemed to realise this too. Taking another Eggrobo out of commission, he turned to Knuckles. "What are we gonna do Knux? We can't hold these guys much longer, and new ones keep on coming!"
Knuckles sliced another bot's head off with his sharp knucklaws, and glanced at his friend. "We don't have much choice, Mighty!" he shouted back. "We can't let these idiots get the Master Emerald!"
Before Mighty could respond, a loud war cry came from a nearby palm tree, followed seconds later by a large green blur swinging down on a vine, knocking down three Eggrobos into a clumsy heap. With relief, Knuckles looked up to see their friend Vector the Crocodile wave at them before going about smashing up some more of the invading armada. Mighty yelled his thanks, but it was wasted. Even a few metres away, with all the noise of the battle, they could hear that Vector had the volume on his walkman headphones at maximum, and it was pounding out one of his favourite tracks, 'Sonic Boom'. The rest of the Chaotix had joined the fight too; Ray the Flying Squirrel was whipping his tail around and knocking over incoming Eggrobos, Charmy the Bee was using his small size to his advantage and ripping out crucial circuits and wires of a few of the bots, and judging by the ones that seemed to be getting beaten up by nothing, Espio the Chameleon was using his stealth powers to remain invisible as he attacked.
"You guys okay?" Ray asked as he whirled past Knuckles. The echidna had to dodge to avoid getting tripped over like the Eggrobos were. "We came running as soon as we felt the tremors!" Charmy added, rewiring one Eggrobo that instantly turned on its brethren and started blasting lasers at them.
Everything would have gone okay if a stray laser bolt hadn't hit the Master Emerald. While the Emerald wasn't damaged, the whole island shook again, and all six of the island's defenders were knocked over. The Eggrobos however, maintained their balance using their jetpacks, and aimed at the group…
He seemed to come out of nowhere. The only warning the Eggrobos got was a yellow and black blur moving across their visual fields. But by that time, Shadow was already blowing them apart, an energy-packed ball of spikes as he used his homing attack to spin through the air, destroying robot after robot. As soon as the inertia let up, Knuckles and the others took advantage of the surprise Shadow had given them all to give him a hand. It wasn't long before only one Eggrobo remained. It quickly weighed up the odds, computed its chance against seven angry Mobians, and decided to abort its mission and flee.
"You better run!" Shadow yelled after it. "Tell Eggman that the Floating Island won't give you punks such a warm welcome next time!"
Knuckles frowned. "You shouldn't have interfered, Shadow. Now Robotnik's going to find out that you're still alive," he warned.
Shadow shrugged off this threat. "That's why you wanted me to buzz off then? Eggman doesn't worry me. And you six are lucky that I DID get involved."
"Yeah, way to save our butts, Shadow!" grinned Espio, appearing out of thin air as he turned back to his usual shade of violet. "I knew you had talent, but wow! You had those bots scattering all over the place!"
"Yeah!" cried Charmy excitedly. "How'd ya do it?"
Shadow pulled out the emerald to show everyone. "I studied the Chaos Emeralds, a very long time ago. Once you learn how to clear your mind and absorb their power, anything is possible." He grinned self-consciously. "'Course, I only needed it to teleport back here. That homing attack is a natural ability of mine."
Knuckles spoke up again. "Well I think it's time you showed off your UN- natural ability again, Shadow. The Master Emerald has been in this place long enough – this is the third time that an attack has been aimed at it since we moved it here, and the only time we've successfully defended it."
The others all nodded, the memories of their two latest falls from the heavens still enough to make them flinch. First it had been Eggman, seeking to free the watery serpent Chaos from its prison, and then only last week, Rouge the Bat had stolen it.
"So what's the plan, Knux m' man?" asked Vector, snapping his fingers.
Knuckles thought for a moment, then made his decision. "The safest place for it is probably back in its original place in the Hidden Palace. It's much less exposed when it's there, and even if someone did try and break in to get it, they wouldn't get far before we caught up with them."
Shadow nodded, walking towards the large green gemstone, the smaller version held in his hand. "That won't be a problem. I'll have it there before you can say 'chaos control,'" he grinned.
Knuckles groaned. "Aww, don't start that again…"
**********
Sonic hated Robotropolis. It stayed dark and grim, no matter what time of day it was, or even if the sun was shining on the rest of the planet. The pollution that Robotnik's factories coughed out blocked out all natural light, and not only that, but gave the entire city a most unpleasant odour of chemicals. As if that wasn't enough, the place was crawling with patrolling Swatbots, and ever since Robotnik had demanded that the poor Overlanders of Station Square write a theme song about him, "E.G.G.M.A.N." was blared out of speakers at every corner around the clock. This was not only annoying, but also dangerous, as it made it more difficult to hear approaching Swatbots. Maybe that's why he was a bit irritated when Tails started softly singing behind him.
"I'm the Eggman! That's what I am! I'm the Eggma…"
"Tails!"
The young fox grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Sonic. You gotta admit, it's a catchy tune."
Sonic just sighed and rolled his eyes. It was a good thing they were almost at Uncle Chuck's hidden spy shack. He didn't know how much more of that song he could take.
**********
The sun, hidden by Robotropolis' pollutants, had completely set by the time the group arrived in an abandoned junkyard. "Glad you could make it Sonic, and you three as well," Uncle Chuck warmly greeted them as Dulcy made one of her trademark crashlandings. Sonic, Tails and Sally all brushed themselves off and smiled at him. It was still a little bit of a shock to Tails that he could retain his free will while his exterior remained a hardened steel, but it was always nice to see a familiar (even if robotic) face.
"No biggee, unc," Sonic grinned, slapping him five. "I think the Swatbots must be slipping, we had no troubles getting here at all."
Sally frowned. Sonic was right – it was unusual for them to have entered the city without having to fight off at least one or two Swatbots.
Chuck simply nodded. "Yes, I'll explain that in a minute. But it's too exposed for my liking out here, let's get inside where it's safe."
Sonic nodded and patted Dulcy's knee. "You going to be okay out here, Dulce?" he asked.
Dulcy was already scurrying under a hollowed out heap of scrap metal, which had been put there just for that purpose. "I'll be fine, Sonic," she grinned. "I can lay low for awhile."
Sonic gave her a thumb's up and followed the others inside.
Tails had never been inside Uncle Chuck's spy shack before, and he gazed around in wonder at all the surveillance and eavesdropping equipment that surrounded them inside. Wow. Rotor would love to explore this place! He sat down on a comfy sofa beside Sally as Sonic dashed into the room and plopped down beside his sidekick. Uncle Chuck pulled up a chair in front of them and sat too.
"So what's the deal, Uncle Chuck?" Sonic asked. "What's the mondo emergency?"
Uncle Chuck sighed as he picked up an oil can from the floor and started lubricating a squeaking joint in his shoulder. "Well Sonny, it's not good. It seems that Robotnik has cut his losses from your encounter with him on the ARK last week, and moved on ahead with another deadly scheme. And he's assigned himself a new lackey to fill in Snively's absent position." The robotic hedgehog pushed a button on the control panel beside him, bringing up a frozen video file that showed another robot resembling a hedgehog. But this one had been completely built by Robotnik himself, instead of roboticised, like Uncle Chuck was. This one was painted blue, with one metal spike coming out of the top of his head, and another at the bottom of it. It had a large exhaust port where its stomach should be, to allow it to boast great speeds. Its red eyes glinted evilly. Sonic recognised it immediately. "Mecha Sonic," he said quietly.
Uncle Chuck nodded. "I'm afraid so," he sighed. "And from what I've seen, he really has it in for you, after the few run-ins you've had before."
Sonic gritted his teeth. "Just what I needed," he muttered.
"What about Robotnik's plan?" Sally asked urgently. "What's he up to this time?"
Uncle Chuck shook his head. "I'm not quite sure, I've been able to find out very little thus far. I've only been able to find out two things for sure. The first is that he's supposedly building some new lieutenants, to help command this scheme."
"Liutenants?" Tails asked, looking worried. "You mean we'll have to worry about more robots as bad as Mecha Sonic?"
Uncle Chuck nodded again. "That's why you had such an easy time getting here – Robotnik's put most of his strength into building them – and his new pet project – so he's loosened up on security a bit. However, now that Mecha Sonic is back in business, I daresay that he'll have normal security measures running again in a matter of hours." Uncle Chuck paused for a moment to let his words sink in before continuing. "The other thing I've found out is that he intends to take advantage of the four natural elements of Mobius, so that he can seize the fifth element. The fifth element is supposed to be the key to him wiping our resistance out for good."
Sally frowned, deep in thought, as she took out her handheld computer. "The four natural elements of Mobius, to seize the fifth… Nicole, what can you tell us about the elements?"
Nicole beeped, booting up her files. "Working… the four natural elements of Mobius; natural powers and phenomena that have existed since the dawn of time. Powerful wonders, but dangerous if misused. The elements are fire, water, wind, and earth. Also worth noting is that the inter-dimensional sorcerer, Ixis Naugus, has complete power over all four elements."
Sally looked grim. "Naugus… do you think that Robotnik plans to use him to take over?"
Sonic shook his head. "If that was his plan, then they would have done it when the two of them were working together. Eggman's a coward, and even if he decided he needed Naugus now, he wouldn't be stupid enough to try and return him from the Void. Not after the way that he tricked him back in there."
Uncle Chuck stood. "I agree with Sonic. More likely he's building some machine to do his bidding."
Tails gaped. "You mean we're going to have to deal with a machine that can use earth, fire, water and wind?!? And what's this fifth element?"
Sonic groaned. "That one's easy. It's the Chaos Emeralds."
Sally's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Yes, of course. The first four elements "were natural wonders, powerful ones, though dangerous when misused." And that could definitely be said of the Chaos Emeralds – jewels containing raw, pure energy; what else could the fifth element be?
Sally turned to Sonic, a look of pure fear on her face. "Sonic, if he gets his chubby hands on the Chaos Emeralds…"
Sonic was off the sofa and pacing by now. "Don't I know it… he almost blasted the entire planet into smithereens last week when he managed to snatch 'em. And don't even get me started about his little escapade with Chaos!"
Tails stood, hoping to calm his friends down. "But he'd have to get them first, and Shadow and Knuckles were going to put them back in the special zones, remember?"
Sonic nodded. Yes, he remembered. When they had reunited with Shadow after his supposed death, when he had disappeared whilst falling towards the planet, Knuckles had decided it would be best to put the emeralds back in their hiding places in the special zones hidden on the Floating Island. Shadow had decided to go along with him, hoping to increase his knowledge of the emeralds, and also curious about the isle in the clouds. Sonic had felt slightly rejected by that decision – he'd been hoping his new friend would come to live in Knothole. Being a speedy hedgehog on a mission to save the world, Shadow was more than just an ally and friend to Sonic – he was someone that he could relate to. Still, he had to admit that the Floating Island could definitely use another defender from Robotnik. The Chaotix didn't have as many Mobians to fall back on as the Freedom Fighters did.
Sally still looked worried. "What if Robotnik finds the special zones though?"
Sonic shook his hand, unconcerned. "Naww, Tails is right. The Chaotix are the only ones who know where the special zones are, and only Knux knows all of their hidey-holes. Even if someone did manage to accidentally stumble onto one, they'd have a hard time getting to an emerald. And once they exit the zone, with or without an emerald, that zone entrance becomes inaccessible until all the emeralds are held by one person. They're perfectly safe."
Sally still wasn't convinced. "But if Robotnik's got new lieutenants… more robots as crafty and resourceful as Mecha Sonic…"
Uncle Chuck interrupted. "Perhaps we should contact Knuckles and warn him before we turn our attention to the real reason I called you here," he suggested.
Sonic, Sally and Tails turned to him in surprise. There was more?
**********
Knuckles furrowed his brow in concern. "So he just up and left?" he asked, pacing up and down his burrow.
Mighty nodded. "Yeah, with no warning or anything. It was a few minutes after I helped him lift the Master Emerald back into position. He just muttered 'Chaos Control,' and disappeared."
'But why?' Knuckles wondered. Why would Shadow just disappear without telling anyone where he was going? Did he need time alone or something? Was he in a grieving mood? "How was he acting before he left?" Knuckles asked.
Mighty shrugged. "Well… thoughtful, I guess. He was muttering about powers… wanting to find what others there were."
Knuckles looked up, relieved. "Well that's not so bad… sounds like he wants to do some research on the Chaos Emeralds, see if he can figure out what else he can do with them."
Mighty looked confused. "You mean there's more powers and abilities that the Chaos Emeralds could give us? I thought all they could do was give power boosts, transform you, Sonic, Tails and Shadow into your ultimate forms, and…"
Knuckles finished his sentence for him. "Chaos Control. My point exactly. We only just found out about that power last week, when we met Shadow. Chaos Emeralds are the ultimate power source – who knows what other mysteries they hide?"
Mighty nodded, looking thoughtful. "Do you think we should go looking for him?" he wondered.
Knuckles shook his head. "Nahhh. If Shadow's gone to research the Chaos Emeralds, he won't still be on the island."
Mighty was still concerned. "Doesn't that worry you? What if he ran into Eggman's forces?"
An irritating beeping sound interrupted their conversation. Knuckles turned his head to see the red light flashing on the transistor radio on the table. Someone was trying to contact him. Knuckles waved his hand nonchalantly at Mighty as he walked over to it. "He probably went to the ARK or Prison Island – that would be the best place to find notes from Eggman's grandfather's research. Not much chance of bumping into Eggman there. Besides, Shadow demonstrated today that he can quite easily take care of himself." Knuckles pulled the antennae out to maximum height, held the device to his dreadlock-covered ear, and pushed the talk button. "Knuckles here, over."
**********
Knuckles had indeed been correct in his assumption. Shadow had investigated first the ARK, and then the abandoned Prison Island facility, but in both searches he'd come up empty. Trying to think of where he should continue his investigation, Shadow walked through Station Square, downcast at his lack of success thus far. When he finally did sigh and look up, it was to see that he was directly outside the city's library. Shadow's heart leapt in excitement. Of course! What better place to research something than a storepile of books and other informative resources? Shadow ran in and up to a teenage human girl behind the counter, who smiled pleasantly down at him. "Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm looking for information on the Chaos Emeralds," Shadow explained. "Do you know where I could find any?"
The girl frowned. Someone looking for info on the Chaos Emeralds? Sounded pretty shady to her. She was about to call for security when she noticed the red markings on Shadow's quills and recognised him.
"Hey wait! Aren't you that hedgehog who helped saved Mobius last week? Ummm... Shadow, isn't it?"
Shadow nodded, and the girl smiled. "Well for you, I think we can make an acception," she said, tapping away at the keyboard and waiting for a data search to complete. After a minute she frowned, and looked down at Shadow again. "I'm afraid that we don't actually have any resources that contain information on the Chaos Emeralds. The closest thing that I could find is "A guide to mystical and ancient talismans of power," she said.
Shadow still looked hopeful. "That book would be sure to have what I'm looking for! Where can I find it?"
"Not here, I'm sorry to say. That book was actually donated to our sister library in Mobotropolis, a long time ago."
Shadow shrugged. He would just have to go to Mobotropolis then. Hmm, interesting name. And coincidental that it just happened to rhyme with the name of Eggman's city, Robotropolis... oh no.
The girl saw the look of recognition on Shadow's face and smiled sadly. "Yes," she confirmed, sighing. "I'm afraid that city was conquered and totally transformed into a dark shadow of itself by the evil scientist, Dr. Robotnik. Who knows if the library there is even still standing?" she wondered. Shadow stared glumly down at the floor. Now what was he supposed to do?
*********
"Yeah, we thought that Eggman might be up to something again," came the crackly reply over Uncle Chuck's radio. "We had an uninvited squad of Eggrobos drop by earlier. They were trying to get at the Master Emerald, surprise, surprise."
Sally grimaced. "Everyone okay, I hope?" she asked.
A laugh came back from the other side. "Yeah, we're all fine," Knuckles chuckled. "You know that saying, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn? Those things couldn't hit the Mobius Trade Centre at thirty paces." His tone turned serious again. "But thanks for the warning, Sally. If Eggman tries anything else, we'll be ready for him this time."
Sally nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her, and spoke into the device again. "Glad to hear it Knuckles. Listen, we may be sending a few Freedom Fighters to assist anyway, but if you need any help, you always know where to reach us."
"Yeah, thanks Sally. We'll be in touch. Knuckles signing off."
**********
Knuckles frowned down at the now silent radio. Figures. It never rains, but it pours. Not only did he have to guard the Master Emerald, but now also the Chaos Emeralds too. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about," he murmured, placing the radio back down on the table.
Mighty placed an arm on his shoulder. "Hey, look on the bright side, Knux. We just have to make sure that no-one gets into the ring portals, right? And there's no need to worry about them getting Shadow's…"
Knuckles gasped as he remembered. Shadow! Shadow had an emerald! Turning the radio back on, he put it back to his ear and pushed the talk button again. "Sally, do you read me? It's Knuckles again. …Princess Sally? Sir Charles?" Knuckles frowned and looked at the device. The red light had gone out. Knuckles cursed. The batteries were dead! "Where's Vector?" he asked, banging the radio against the wall rather then looking up at his friend.
"Down at the swamp, I think…" Mighty started.
"You think?!?" Knuckles asked, looking annoyed. "That's our biggest problem. We all go our separate ways around here, instead of sticking together! We need to be more interdependent, and centre ourselves around one major base. Like Sonic and Sally, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters at Knothole. Our lack of organization could have proved disastrous today! Find him, we need some batteries, and he always has some for his walkman. Then find everyone else, and tell them to get here. We need to tell them what's going on."
Mighty nodded and headed for the entrance, then paused. "Do we really need the batteries, Knux?" he asked hesitantly.
"The Princess has a right to know that Shadow has an emerald, Mighty."
"Well sure, but there's no way Shadow will ever give up that thing whilst he's still alive…"
Knuckles finally looked up from shaking the radio up and down. "That's what I'm afraid of, Mighty."
**********
"Tell me Sonic, did you bring a power ring with you?" Uncle Chuck asked.
Sonic looked confused, but dug into his backpack and produced a golden ring, being sure not to activate it yet. "Well sure, Unc. Never leave home without 'em. In fact..." he added, pulling another two rings identical to the first out, "I brought a few spares. It took 3 rings to bust me out of the roboticiser that time Eggman almost got me, and while I don't intend to get stuck in one of those again any time too soon, better safe than sorry."
"Excellent," Uncle Chuck said, taking two of the rings, and handing one each to Sally and Tails, who accepted them with great confusion. "What good are these to us, Uncle Chuck?" Tails asked. "I thought that Sonic was the only person who could use them?"
Charles chuckled light-heartedly and shook his head. "It's time that you learned the secrets of the rings, my friends. They can be used by anyone, just like the object I created them from can be."
"And what would that be?" Sally asked.
"That, my dear, would be a Chaos Emerald."
Sonic, Tails and Sally all gaped at each other, then paid close attention as Uncle Chuck explained his story.
"Back when I was the King's leading scientist, he gave me permission to work with the Kingdom's Chaos Emerald. At the time, its energy was what powered the city instead of electricity, making Mobotropolis an environmentally friendly place," he explained, frowning as he thought about how that had changed for the worst, with Robotnik's factories polluting the area. "The King thought it would be a good idea to attempt to clone, or to make a copy of the emerald, as the population was always growing, and more energy would likely be required. After all, a Chaos Emerald on its own was all well and good, but another of the same limitless power-filled stones would make things even better. Unfortunately, I was never able to complete this task. The Chaos Emeralds are natural forces, and no artificial creation could ever compare to their infinite energy supply. Although I understand you came pretty close, Tails?"
The young fox nodded, remembering the fake Chaos Emerald he had created, designed to neutralise the power of the real emeralds, much like the Master Emerald did. Tails' emerald had been destroyed in the battle for survival last week, when all of Mobius had come so close to being wiped out.
Uncle Chuck continued his explanation. "However, while I failed to create a duplicate emerald, I had a success of a different nature, when I produced the power rock. As you all know, this rock lies in the energy module in Knothole's Grotto, and thus produces a new power ring every several hours. Now, while the power rings could never live up to the Chaos Emeralds, what with their limited and short-lasting power supply, they are similar in that they can give the holder the energy to enhance their natural abilities, but only if they are pure of heart. This is the greatest advantage for us that the rings hold over the emeralds - no force of evil can ever use them, nor can a machine."
Sonic scratched his head. "That doesn't fit right..." he mumbled to himself, trying to figure out what was wrong with the last part of his uncle's explanation. Then it came to him, and he sat up and snapped his fingers. "What about that time that Antoine goofed? Eggman got his oily mitts on a ring then, and used it to power that Sonic radar!"
Uncle Chuck grimaced at that. "Not quite, Sonny boy. Robotnik had the technology and resources for that machine the whole time, he was just too ignorant to realise it." He paused to let that sink in, before turning his attention back to the rings. "As you noted, Sonic, the more rings one holds, the more power they have. The energy lasts longer, too."
Tails interrupted then. "So, if Sonic had like... a gazillion rings, then would he be able to turn into Super Sonic, without using the emeralds?" he asked.
Uncle Chuck shook his head. "No, Tails. While the ring technology was developed from the Chaos Emeralds, the way they give out their power is slightly different."
"So holding many, many rings would result in something more like what the deep power stones did to us then?" Sally asked. The deep power stones had been used by her and Sonic against the Doomsday Project. Absorbing the power equal to that of thousands of rings, the two of them had sped through Robotropolis glowing a bright magenta, managing to free all the imprisoned Freedom Fighters and destroy a large section of the city, including (as they had thought at the time) Robotnik himself.
Uncle Chuck nodded again. "Exactly, Sally! The more rings you have, the closer you get to holding that kind of power. Now, the power rock was more than enough to do the job I had originally intended it for. By placing it in the Knothole grotto, and collecting the rings it produced, we had more than enough energy to power the city. The only reason that we found out about how they can be used by Mobians was that one time I got Sonic to deliver the latest batch from Knothole to Mobotropolis, and he accidentally activated one, bringing him back at record time. That's why for so long, everyone thought that Sonic was the only one able to use them."
Sally looked thoughtful. "You mentioned, 'Mobians,' Uncle Chuck. Would an Overlander be able to use the rings too?" she asked.
Uncle Chuck tapped his metallic chin thoughtfully and considered this. "I don't know," he admitted. "We never had a chance to test them out on humans. However, I would say yes. As long as they were pure of heart, that is."
At this point, the radio started squawking again. "Princess Sally? Sir Charles? Are you there? Do you read me?" It was Knuckles again.
"We hear you Knuckles, go ahead," Sally responded, picking up the communicator.
"Just thought you should know this. Shadow's been using the green emerald to warp around the island when we need to. He left the island a little earlier this afternoon - we think he went to do some research on the Chaos Emeralds."
Sally frowned, considering the implications of this. "Roger that Knuckles, thanks for letting us know. Anything else?"
"Not really. But if you see him before we do, can you tell him to report back? We need to discuss defending the island."
"Will do," Sally replied. "Take care, Knuckles."
"You too, Princess. Over and out."
The radio became silent again. Sonic, picking up on the Princess' sour mood shook his head. "Chill, Sal. If Shadow's researching the emeralds, then the best place to do it would be on the ARK or out around Station Square. Not much chance of running into Eggman there..."
Sonic had intended to add an, "Is there?" to the end of his sentence, but was interrupted by a blaring alarm from the computers. Uncle Chuck ran over and muted the alarm, checking what the problem was. "Robotnik's security forces seemed to have blown up a building in downtown Robotropolis, in response to an intruder alert... oh no. That's the building that used to be the Mobotropolis library!"
Sally gave Sonic a look, and he flinched. "Okay, so I was wrong! No biggee!"
"It's a major biggee, Sonic! If Robotnik gets that emerald..."
Tails was already running through the door. Sonic hated to be rude, (well, not really) but now was the time to take action. He belted for the door too, and had overtaken Tails within seconds. Sally lagged behind them both, taking longer because she had to wake up the snoozing Ducly and saddle up first.
**********
Shadow couldn't believe his good luck. Not only was the library still standing, but it even still had all its books inside! Eggman had apparently neglected to trash this area of town. Shadow walked inside and gazed along the darkened shelves of books, using the Chaos Emerald to light his path. He had taken a moment to get down the book's call number from the girl back in Station Square, so locating it only took him a few minutes. Shaking in excitement, Shadow sat down at a table and opened the book, flipping through it until he found the Chaos Emeralds chapter. He leant down close and started speed-reading through it. "Long have the Chaos Emeralds been symbols of power... ancient jewels containing limitless energy... blah blah blah..." he muttered, turning pages in search of what he wanted. At last, he found it. "Here we go... the Chaos Emeralds play host to a range of extraordinary powers, all of which can be activated by use of a simple incantation... Not only that, but for each individual in possession of an emerald, the jewel also awards them with their own unique ability, if they are able to find it. There is no particular incantation for this, as each ability is unique to each person and only them. However, an incantation of their own invention should be used for this."
After that, there was a list of all the different abilities, and the incantations required to activate them. Chaos Control was at the top of the list, unsurprisingly. Shadow read down the page in wonder. Wow! The things he could do with these powers! This one old page out of a long forgotten book could very well be the key to defeating Robotnik! He closed the book and picked it up, planning to return to the Floating Island and show his discovery to Knuckles. But before he had that chance, there was an explosion in the room, throwing Shadow forwards, away from his backpack, where he had just stowed the Chaos Emerald.
Shadow landed painfully on his back, groaning as he tried to rub his bruised quills. Desperation came over his face. Looked like security had gotten the wise of him, and were now ambushing him. Thinking quickly, Shadow reopened the book, and tore out the page he had shown so much interest over. Folding into as small a piece of paper as possible, he hid it up his glove for safe keeping. Then he turned his attention to the Swatbots that were already pouring into the building in search of him. If he could just get to his backpack...
He didn't get the chance. At that point, part of the building collapsed right on top of him.
**********
Sonic had quite an easy time getting to the wrecked library. Only one hover unit passed reasonably close to him, and it paid the blue hedgehog no attention. It was going flat out towards Robotnik's command centre, in the middle of town. By the time that he got to his destination though, there wasn't much left to see. The building looked like ancient ruins, with charred books all over the place. Part of the building had fallen in on itself, aside from the large blast that had opened it up at the front. There were a few wrecked Swatbots littering the place too, that had been unfortunate enough to either get too close to the blast, or were in the history section when it collapsed. He was just about to start digging through the rubble when Dulcy arrived with Sally on her back. The two of them looked around in horror. Sonic looked up at them briefly, vaguely wondering where Tails was, then shrugged and curled into a ball, going into his spindash attack to try and clear some of the rubble.
Dulcy gaped. "You don't think Shadow was in there, do you?"
Sally realised something. "Sonic, there's no Swatbots left here, except for the ones that have been destroyed!"
Sonic came out of his spindash and looked up at her. "So?" he asked.
"So, that means that they already left! Either what they came for got away... or they caught it!"
Sonic paused, then gasped as he remembered the hovercraft he'd passed on the way here. It had been making straight for the Eggman's HQ! Sonic pulled the power ring out of his backpack and blasted off without a second thought, leaving Dulcy to follow from far behind, having no chance of keeping up with his enhanced speed.
*********
Shadow groaned as he regained consciousness, rubbing his woozy head. He was lucky to still be alive, was his first thought. The collapsing building could well have been the end of him. But as he began to take notice of his surroundings, his mouth opened wide in horror as he realised that it may have been the end of him after all. Because he was sitting inside a glass tube in the middle of a laboratory, and on the outside, stood a metallic hedgehog, obviously built to resemble Sonic. Knuckles had told him about this creation. It was Mecha Sonic. The robot stood beside a control panel eagerly, awaiting his orders. The danger of his position evident to him, Shadow went into a spindash and attempted to break free of his prison, but in his weakened, barely conscious condition, he had no chance. Instinctively he reached behind him, as if to pull out the Chaos Emerald from his backpack. Then his eyes fell on the pack, lying on its side on the control panel. The green Chaos Emerald stood beside it, glowing its usual brightness. Shadow started looking all around him in frustration, and saw a monitor facing him, which displayed Dr. Robotnik's smirking face. "No way out this time, hedgehog," he smirked, before breaking into cackles of maniacal glee.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Okay, so here's the situation. All us fans saw what happened in the final episode of the SatAM series of Sonic the Hedgehog – Robotnik supposedly killed after the major explosion in Robotropolis, Snively determined to take over Mobius, and those creepy red eyes leering out at him from the dark. If there had been a third season (and there should have been!) we would have found out that those eyes belong to Ixis Naugus, the bat-rhino- scorpion wizard trapped within the Void with King Acorn and (wait for it…) Dr. Robotnik! That's right, the doc must have had void technology in his ship, which teleported him in there. The third season would have seen all 3 of them escape the Void, leaving Naugus to take the position of tyranical despot set on world domination, Robotnik get stuck as his lackey, and Snively lose everything and have no choice but to defect to the Freedom Fighters.
My Sonic the Hedgehog series takes place somewhere after all that in the lost third series. Naugus was deviously tricked back into the Void, King Acorn has assumed command of the Freedom Fighters, Sally has locked Snively in the Knothole Prison to make sure that he can't betray them, and Robotnik has undergone quite a change in appearance, acquired from all the torturing he received from Naugus, and giving him the look that he has in the Sonic Adventure series. To add to that, many characters from the Sonic video games have made their way into the series, as those who will have read "Shadow's… and Sonic's Adventure, 2!" will already know. This fic takes place after that one, which is based on the events of Sonic Adventure 2.
Enjoy!
Blue streak speeds by,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Too fast for the naked eye,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sonic! He can really move!
Sonic! He's got an attitude!
Sonic! He's the fastest thing ali-eive!
Look out when he storms through,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Don't doubt what he can do,
Sonic the Hedgehog!
Sonic! He can really move!
Sonic! He's got an attitude!
Sonic! He's the fastest thing alive!
He's the fastest thing alive!
He's the fastest thing alive!
SONIC ADVENTURE 3: Part 1 – Lord of the Rings
It was a beautiful, sunny day on the Floating Island, and as far as Knuckles the Echidna was concerned, things couldn't be better. The guardian of the isle in the clouds was spending the afternoon relaxing in the shade under his favourite giant mushroom, and telling his new partner and friend about the time he first met Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Get outta town!" Shadow exclaimed, his crimson eyes wide. "You mean that Eggman actually had you believing that Sonic and Tails were after the Master Emerald?"
"Got that right," Knuckles murmured, pulling on his shades as the sun came out from behind a cloud.
"I don't believe this… Eggman? That stupid, balding, overweight Overlander that I so easily hoodwinked managed to dupe you?" the black hedgehog asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
Knuckles glared at him. "Hey, the evidence was on his side. Sonic did have the Chaos Emeralds, after all. Besides, Eggman's pretty clever. I heard he has an I.Q. of 300," he retorted.
Shadow laughed. "Yeah, right! My little finger's smarter than that wide load. If he's so smart, why doesn't he discover a diet food that actually works?"
Knuckles had to grin at that. "An unsolved mystery," he chuckled. He punched Shadow lightly on the shoulder and smiled at him. "Ya know, I wouldn't have said it a week ago, but you've got an attitude that's a lot like Sonic's."
Shadow smiled but said nothing, thinking that a week ago, he too would have said that he and Sonic couldn't be more different. The reason for this was that a week ago, Shadow was trying to bring about events that would have meant the destruction of the entire planet. Shadow just happened to be a secret military project that had been abandoned and locked away fifty years ago. The black hedgehog who had been called, 'The Ultimate Life Form,' had slept for fifty years (and not aged, because of immortality) until Dr. Ivo Robotnik (or as his friends, and even Shadow himself now called him, 'Eggman,') had freed him. Shadow had immediately gone about plotting the destruction of Mobius that had been biologically programmed into him, to avenge his only friend, Maria Robotnik (a late cousin of Eggman, and granddaughter of Shadow's creator, Professor Gerald Robotnik). Luckily he had been shown the error of his ways by Sonic's friend Amy Rose in time for him to remember Maria's dying wish for him to save the world, and managed to help Sonic prevent a falling space station from colliding with the planet at the very last second. He wouldn't be here, having this conversation with Knuckles, if he hadn't driven away his desire for destruction. Would he still be alive though? He stayed awake at nights sometimes, just trying to figure out if he really was immortal. He had been alive for over fifty years but didn't feel a day over 16. Possibly 17. But was there another explanation for this? Perhaps he had been in suspended animation, or something?
Shadow sighed. His origins would probably remain shrouded in mystery for the rest of his life – however long that may be. The majority of his secrets had died with his creator, who had been executed not long before Shadow was locked away. Professor Gerald wasn't likely to return from the grave to answer Shadow's many questions.
"It's not easy, is it?" Knuckles asked, interrupting Shadow's thoughts. "Having to grow up alone, never knowing if you're living your life the way the ones you owe life to expected you to?"
"No… it's not…" Shadow blinked. "But… how did…?"
"I've seen that look on your face. Every time I look in the mirror," Knuckles replied.
Shadow looked surprised. "You grew up alone too?"
Knuckles nodded. "The echidnas used to be a thriving race on the Floating Island," he explained. "But they all mysteriously vanished, and when I was 10, my father too." Knuckles looked down at the grass, as if hoping to find answers. "He spent my entire life training me to be guardian. It's almost as if… as if he was expecting me to take his place. Sooner than I thought." Knuckles frowned. "A lot of other people have had to grow up without parents too. From what Sonic and Tails have told me, a lot of the Freedom Fighters became orphans during Robotnik's coup. Most of their parents were killed or roboticised during the invasion, and even more over the 10 odd years since. King Acorn, Princess Sally's father, was imprisoned in an alternate zone until recently. One of the most tragic things is that Robotnik took over not all that long after Mobotropolis had just won the Great War, against the Overlanders. They thought that they'd be able to have lives of peace again."
Shadow went silent again. 'Of all the species on this planet,' he thought quietly to himself, 'Overlanders must be the most warlike and unpleasant.' Still he couldn't deny that some humans were okay. Like Maria… Shadow's heart gave a pang as he thought of his fallen friend. 'Oh Maria…'
Shadow didn't have long to dwell on these thoughts, as a large tremor shook the entire island, knocking both he and Knuckles backwards. "What was that?!?" Shadow exclaimed, trying to get to his feet.
Knuckles grunted and grabbed the mushroom's stalk to push himself up. "A quake like that can only mean someone's messing with the Master Emerald! And if there's one thing I hate, it's someone messing with the Master Emerald!" he growled.
"No probs, grab my arm!" Shadow yelled, reaching into his backpack. "I'll have us there before you can say Chaos Control!"
Knuckles closed his hand around Shadow's other arm as the black hedgehog pulled out a shining green gemstone bigger than his clenched fist. Shadow had studied the powers of the Chaos Emeralds before his imprisonment, and knew a few of their secrets. "Chaos Control!" he ordered the jewel, which in response glowed brighter than usual and emitted green rays, before vanishing in a blaze of light, taking Shadow and Knuckles with it.
**********
In the Great Meadow, Sonic and Tails knew nothing of Shadow and Knuckles' concerns. Sonic was giving his young sidekick another one of their heavy training sessions that they both enjoyed, because they required lots of speed. Today's lesson involved Sonic attempting to pass on one of his cooler moves to Tails – the Super Peelout Manoeuvrer.
"Now Tails, this is not an easy move to pull off," the hedgehog lectured. "It takes a lot of patience, concentration, and most important of all… speed!" he grinned.
Tails grinned too. "So how do I do it Sonic?" he asked.
Sonic punched his hand into his fist. "Okay double wag, first thing I have to do is spin my legs around really fast. Now you can't rotate you feet quite fast enough for that, so let's see your alternative."
Tails nodded and spun his twin tails around so that they spun like helicopter blades, propelling him forward. "How's that?" he asked, running circles around Sonic.
Sonic smiled. "Great, but here's the catch – you have to do it standing still!"
Tails skidded to a halt. "Standing still?" he asked, looking perplexed.
"Watch." Sonic demonstrated, whirring his feet around whilst remaining in the same spot. "Now you try it!" he called.
Tails looked apprehensive, but tried it anyway. His spinning tails at first continued propelling him forward, but after a few goes he got the hang of it.
"Great!" Sonic cheered, coming to a stop. "Now here's where it gets really hard. Watch closely, bro…" Sonic started whirring his feet again, but this time instead of the regular twin round red blurs that were his sneakers, Tails now saw the outline of a figure eight. "Whoa! Cool Sonic!" he breathed, jaw gaping. Sonic did a backflip and landed back on his feet, taking a bow. "Not bad, huh?" he asked, wiping his brow. "It'll give you a major speed boost, if you can pull it off without tripping yourself up."
Tails looked worried again though. "I can't do that!" he moaned. "It's too hard!"
Sonic tussled his hair reassuringly. "Sure you can little buddy! You think you have it hard? I have to get my legs doing that! Spinning your tails around in a figure eight should be much easier."
Tails thought about this for a moment, then realised that Sonic was right, and started spinning his tails again. However, a crash from behind them sent both Sonic and Tails spinning around, to see their friend Dulcy the dragon sitting up dazed on the ground, rubbing her face. "Chin pad," she muttered. "The dragon needs a chin pad."
Sonic laughed and walked over to her. "You okay Dulce? What's up?"
Dulcy smiled at the two friends and cricked her neck back into place. "I'm fine, Sonic. Sally just sent me to find you…"
Sonic immediately swung his leg backwards and started revving it up. "Right! Comin' Sal!"
Dulcy held out her hands and waved them back and forth. "No, wait Sonic! She just got a message on Nicole – your Uncle Chuck wants to see you both."
Sonic stopped and raised his eyebrows. "Uncle Chuck?" he asked. That was interesting. Uncle Chuck was one of the few roboticised Mobians that had managed to regain his free will, and worked in Robotropolis as a spy for the Freedom Fighters. Apart from that, he was the only family that Sonic had left. Sonic was orphaned at an early age, thanks to Robotnik. Sonic couldn't remember either of his parents, but had been told that his father, Julian Hedgehog, had been the first victim of the dreaded roboticiser, which had been a tool of medicine that Chuck had invented, only to have it sabotaged by Robotnik, turning it to a tool of war. Sonic's mother, Bernadette, had suffered the same fate not long afterwards. Uncle Chuck and his dog, Muttski, had been the only family that the young hedgehog could remember, and he'd lost them too. Sure, he'd gotten Uncle Chuck's memory and free will back, but hardly ever saw him, due to his work behind enemy lines. Sonic sighed, pulling his mind away from his lost family and back to the business at hand. "Did he say what's up?"
Dulcy shook her head. "He just said that he needed to see you and Sally pronto. She sent me to help find you."
Sonic nodded. "Okay, so where IS Sal?" he asked.
"Right here, Sonic!" came the reply, as the Princess came running out of the bushes, panting. She stooped down, trying to get her breath back. "Had to clear it with Dad," she explained, wiping her brow.
"Cool. Let's do it then," Sonic grinned.
Tails grabbed Sonic's arm excitedly. "Can I come too, Sonic? Can I, can I, can I?" he asked.
"Okay with me, T2," Sonic shrugged, glancing at the Princess. "Sal?"
Sally hesitated, as she always did when Tails wanted to do something potentially dangerous. Tails probably had done more for the Freedom Fighters' cause than plenty of others in Knothole… Antoine was a prime example there. Despite that though, she always had a little doubt in her mind, because he was about 5 years younger than the rest of them. He had just been a baby when Robotnik took over. Still…
"Okay honey, you can come," Sally smiled, climbing on Dulcy's back. Tails cheered and jumped onto the dragon's saddle, between Sonic and Sally.
"Please observe that the fasten seatbelt and no smoking lights are on," Dulcy grinned, flapping her wings.
Sally rolled her eyes. "Seatbelts," she moaned as the dragon took off. "You really ought to consider that one, Dulcy…"
**********
"You said you'd have us there before you could say Chaos Control!"
"No, I said I'd have us there before YOU could say Chaos Control. And I did!"
"Before I did say it, pal. I easily could have…"
"Will you two stop arguing and give me a hand over here?!?"
Knuckles and Shadow looked up. They had reappeared right beside the Master Emerald shrine, but had been so absorbed with their discussion that they had forgotten why they had teleported there in the first place. Now they could see that their friend Mighty the Armadillo was surrounded by robots, yet still putting up one heck of a fight. Several sparking droids lay nearby, damaged beyond repair with large holes in their torsos or heads. They were some of the strangest looking things that Shadow had ever seen… and he had seen the Artificial Chaos robots. These ones were shaped like humans, only shorter and wider than most would be. All wore jetpacks, clutched laser rifles, and were painted in red with two yellow stripes coming across their chests. Their heads were small, silver semi-circles, with glistening red eyes that flashed angrily at the armadillo who stood in their way. One noticed Shadow and Knuckles' appearance, and fired a blast at them. Shadow jumped forward and Knuckles dodged backwards, leaving the shot to bounce harmlessly off a rock they had been standing in front of.
"Whoa!" Shadow gasped. "What are these guys?!?"
"Eggrobos," Knuckles grunted. "Eggman creations!"
He remembered all too well his first encounter with these things, when he'd been making life a pain for Sonic and Tails. As if he hadn't had his hands full trying to keep those two busy, these maniacs kept on attacking him in various assault ships, like the ones their obese master used against Sonic and Tails.
Shadow frowned. "Alright then!" he yelled, running forward.
Knuckles grabbed him and pulled him back though. "Wait Shadow! I need you to get the rest of the Chaotix over here, pronto! It looks like there's more of them coming!" he exclaimed, pointing towards a group of unmistakeable shapes flying steadily closer.
Shadow frowned. "I can handle the Egg-bozos," he growled.
Knuckles shook his head. "Shadow, please! We don't have time for this! We need reinforcements…"
Shadow sighed and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Chaos Control," before disappearing in a blaze of green light. Knuckles paid him no further attention, but leapt immediately into the fray, doing a mid-air somersault to land beside Mighty.
"You okay, Might?" he asked, putting up his fists in a defensive stance.
Mighty grunted as he disabled another Eggrobo with a smashing uppercut. "Me? I'm great! Been exchanging moves with these fellas," he grinned, ducking another laser blast. "They don't seem to think very highly of my 'Mighty Wallop' though," he added, slamming both his fists down hard on the bot's head, causing it to retract into its torso. Eggrobos weren't built to do that though, and this particular one malfunctioned. Knuckles laughed as he smashed apart another one that was closing in on him.
"Really? Can't imagine why. Perhaps they'll like my 'Knuckles Sandwich' better!"
"Bet I can wreck more than you!"
"Hey no fair, you already have a head start!"
Knuckles and Mighty continued to destroy every Eggrobo that was stupid enough to get close to them. While Knuckles couldn't boast Mighty's extraordinarily powerful strength, he could certainly hold his own against a hoard of second-rate robots. His connection with the Master Emerald gave him an added edge, making him quicker and tougher than he would be without it. Despite all that though, Knuckles realised that things were looking grim. More of the robots were surrounding them, and while they were hopeless shots and not all that tough, it would only take one lucky laser, and he and Mighty would be getting scrapped off the ground. It could be a long afternoon… or a short one…
Mighty seemed to realise this too. Taking another Eggrobo out of commission, he turned to Knuckles. "What are we gonna do Knux? We can't hold these guys much longer, and new ones keep on coming!"
Knuckles sliced another bot's head off with his sharp knucklaws, and glanced at his friend. "We don't have much choice, Mighty!" he shouted back. "We can't let these idiots get the Master Emerald!"
Before Mighty could respond, a loud war cry came from a nearby palm tree, followed seconds later by a large green blur swinging down on a vine, knocking down three Eggrobos into a clumsy heap. With relief, Knuckles looked up to see their friend Vector the Crocodile wave at them before going about smashing up some more of the invading armada. Mighty yelled his thanks, but it was wasted. Even a few metres away, with all the noise of the battle, they could hear that Vector had the volume on his walkman headphones at maximum, and it was pounding out one of his favourite tracks, 'Sonic Boom'. The rest of the Chaotix had joined the fight too; Ray the Flying Squirrel was whipping his tail around and knocking over incoming Eggrobos, Charmy the Bee was using his small size to his advantage and ripping out crucial circuits and wires of a few of the bots, and judging by the ones that seemed to be getting beaten up by nothing, Espio the Chameleon was using his stealth powers to remain invisible as he attacked.
"You guys okay?" Ray asked as he whirled past Knuckles. The echidna had to dodge to avoid getting tripped over like the Eggrobos were. "We came running as soon as we felt the tremors!" Charmy added, rewiring one Eggrobo that instantly turned on its brethren and started blasting lasers at them.
Everything would have gone okay if a stray laser bolt hadn't hit the Master Emerald. While the Emerald wasn't damaged, the whole island shook again, and all six of the island's defenders were knocked over. The Eggrobos however, maintained their balance using their jetpacks, and aimed at the group…
He seemed to come out of nowhere. The only warning the Eggrobos got was a yellow and black blur moving across their visual fields. But by that time, Shadow was already blowing them apart, an energy-packed ball of spikes as he used his homing attack to spin through the air, destroying robot after robot. As soon as the inertia let up, Knuckles and the others took advantage of the surprise Shadow had given them all to give him a hand. It wasn't long before only one Eggrobo remained. It quickly weighed up the odds, computed its chance against seven angry Mobians, and decided to abort its mission and flee.
"You better run!" Shadow yelled after it. "Tell Eggman that the Floating Island won't give you punks such a warm welcome next time!"
Knuckles frowned. "You shouldn't have interfered, Shadow. Now Robotnik's going to find out that you're still alive," he warned.
Shadow shrugged off this threat. "That's why you wanted me to buzz off then? Eggman doesn't worry me. And you six are lucky that I DID get involved."
"Yeah, way to save our butts, Shadow!" grinned Espio, appearing out of thin air as he turned back to his usual shade of violet. "I knew you had talent, but wow! You had those bots scattering all over the place!"
"Yeah!" cried Charmy excitedly. "How'd ya do it?"
Shadow pulled out the emerald to show everyone. "I studied the Chaos Emeralds, a very long time ago. Once you learn how to clear your mind and absorb their power, anything is possible." He grinned self-consciously. "'Course, I only needed it to teleport back here. That homing attack is a natural ability of mine."
Knuckles spoke up again. "Well I think it's time you showed off your UN- natural ability again, Shadow. The Master Emerald has been in this place long enough – this is the third time that an attack has been aimed at it since we moved it here, and the only time we've successfully defended it."
The others all nodded, the memories of their two latest falls from the heavens still enough to make them flinch. First it had been Eggman, seeking to free the watery serpent Chaos from its prison, and then only last week, Rouge the Bat had stolen it.
"So what's the plan, Knux m' man?" asked Vector, snapping his fingers.
Knuckles thought for a moment, then made his decision. "The safest place for it is probably back in its original place in the Hidden Palace. It's much less exposed when it's there, and even if someone did try and break in to get it, they wouldn't get far before we caught up with them."
Shadow nodded, walking towards the large green gemstone, the smaller version held in his hand. "That won't be a problem. I'll have it there before you can say 'chaos control,'" he grinned.
Knuckles groaned. "Aww, don't start that again…"
**********
Sonic hated Robotropolis. It stayed dark and grim, no matter what time of day it was, or even if the sun was shining on the rest of the planet. The pollution that Robotnik's factories coughed out blocked out all natural light, and not only that, but gave the entire city a most unpleasant odour of chemicals. As if that wasn't enough, the place was crawling with patrolling Swatbots, and ever since Robotnik had demanded that the poor Overlanders of Station Square write a theme song about him, "E.G.G.M.A.N." was blared out of speakers at every corner around the clock. This was not only annoying, but also dangerous, as it made it more difficult to hear approaching Swatbots. Maybe that's why he was a bit irritated when Tails started softly singing behind him.
"I'm the Eggman! That's what I am! I'm the Eggma…"
"Tails!"
The young fox grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Sonic. You gotta admit, it's a catchy tune."
Sonic just sighed and rolled his eyes. It was a good thing they were almost at Uncle Chuck's hidden spy shack. He didn't know how much more of that song he could take.
**********
The sun, hidden by Robotropolis' pollutants, had completely set by the time the group arrived in an abandoned junkyard. "Glad you could make it Sonic, and you three as well," Uncle Chuck warmly greeted them as Dulcy made one of her trademark crashlandings. Sonic, Tails and Sally all brushed themselves off and smiled at him. It was still a little bit of a shock to Tails that he could retain his free will while his exterior remained a hardened steel, but it was always nice to see a familiar (even if robotic) face.
"No biggee, unc," Sonic grinned, slapping him five. "I think the Swatbots must be slipping, we had no troubles getting here at all."
Sally frowned. Sonic was right – it was unusual for them to have entered the city without having to fight off at least one or two Swatbots.
Chuck simply nodded. "Yes, I'll explain that in a minute. But it's too exposed for my liking out here, let's get inside where it's safe."
Sonic nodded and patted Dulcy's knee. "You going to be okay out here, Dulce?" he asked.
Dulcy was already scurrying under a hollowed out heap of scrap metal, which had been put there just for that purpose. "I'll be fine, Sonic," she grinned. "I can lay low for awhile."
Sonic gave her a thumb's up and followed the others inside.
Tails had never been inside Uncle Chuck's spy shack before, and he gazed around in wonder at all the surveillance and eavesdropping equipment that surrounded them inside. Wow. Rotor would love to explore this place! He sat down on a comfy sofa beside Sally as Sonic dashed into the room and plopped down beside his sidekick. Uncle Chuck pulled up a chair in front of them and sat too.
"So what's the deal, Uncle Chuck?" Sonic asked. "What's the mondo emergency?"
Uncle Chuck sighed as he picked up an oil can from the floor and started lubricating a squeaking joint in his shoulder. "Well Sonny, it's not good. It seems that Robotnik has cut his losses from your encounter with him on the ARK last week, and moved on ahead with another deadly scheme. And he's assigned himself a new lackey to fill in Snively's absent position." The robotic hedgehog pushed a button on the control panel beside him, bringing up a frozen video file that showed another robot resembling a hedgehog. But this one had been completely built by Robotnik himself, instead of roboticised, like Uncle Chuck was. This one was painted blue, with one metal spike coming out of the top of his head, and another at the bottom of it. It had a large exhaust port where its stomach should be, to allow it to boast great speeds. Its red eyes glinted evilly. Sonic recognised it immediately. "Mecha Sonic," he said quietly.
Uncle Chuck nodded. "I'm afraid so," he sighed. "And from what I've seen, he really has it in for you, after the few run-ins you've had before."
Sonic gritted his teeth. "Just what I needed," he muttered.
"What about Robotnik's plan?" Sally asked urgently. "What's he up to this time?"
Uncle Chuck shook his head. "I'm not quite sure, I've been able to find out very little thus far. I've only been able to find out two things for sure. The first is that he's supposedly building some new lieutenants, to help command this scheme."
"Liutenants?" Tails asked, looking worried. "You mean we'll have to worry about more robots as bad as Mecha Sonic?"
Uncle Chuck nodded again. "That's why you had such an easy time getting here – Robotnik's put most of his strength into building them – and his new pet project – so he's loosened up on security a bit. However, now that Mecha Sonic is back in business, I daresay that he'll have normal security measures running again in a matter of hours." Uncle Chuck paused for a moment to let his words sink in before continuing. "The other thing I've found out is that he intends to take advantage of the four natural elements of Mobius, so that he can seize the fifth element. The fifth element is supposed to be the key to him wiping our resistance out for good."
Sally frowned, deep in thought, as she took out her handheld computer. "The four natural elements of Mobius, to seize the fifth… Nicole, what can you tell us about the elements?"
Nicole beeped, booting up her files. "Working… the four natural elements of Mobius; natural powers and phenomena that have existed since the dawn of time. Powerful wonders, but dangerous if misused. The elements are fire, water, wind, and earth. Also worth noting is that the inter-dimensional sorcerer, Ixis Naugus, has complete power over all four elements."
Sally looked grim. "Naugus… do you think that Robotnik plans to use him to take over?"
Sonic shook his head. "If that was his plan, then they would have done it when the two of them were working together. Eggman's a coward, and even if he decided he needed Naugus now, he wouldn't be stupid enough to try and return him from the Void. Not after the way that he tricked him back in there."
Uncle Chuck stood. "I agree with Sonic. More likely he's building some machine to do his bidding."
Tails gaped. "You mean we're going to have to deal with a machine that can use earth, fire, water and wind?!? And what's this fifth element?"
Sonic groaned. "That one's easy. It's the Chaos Emeralds."
Sally's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Yes, of course. The first four elements "were natural wonders, powerful ones, though dangerous when misused." And that could definitely be said of the Chaos Emeralds – jewels containing raw, pure energy; what else could the fifth element be?
Sally turned to Sonic, a look of pure fear on her face. "Sonic, if he gets his chubby hands on the Chaos Emeralds…"
Sonic was off the sofa and pacing by now. "Don't I know it… he almost blasted the entire planet into smithereens last week when he managed to snatch 'em. And don't even get me started about his little escapade with Chaos!"
Tails stood, hoping to calm his friends down. "But he'd have to get them first, and Shadow and Knuckles were going to put them back in the special zones, remember?"
Sonic nodded. Yes, he remembered. When they had reunited with Shadow after his supposed death, when he had disappeared whilst falling towards the planet, Knuckles had decided it would be best to put the emeralds back in their hiding places in the special zones hidden on the Floating Island. Shadow had decided to go along with him, hoping to increase his knowledge of the emeralds, and also curious about the isle in the clouds. Sonic had felt slightly rejected by that decision – he'd been hoping his new friend would come to live in Knothole. Being a speedy hedgehog on a mission to save the world, Shadow was more than just an ally and friend to Sonic – he was someone that he could relate to. Still, he had to admit that the Floating Island could definitely use another defender from Robotnik. The Chaotix didn't have as many Mobians to fall back on as the Freedom Fighters did.
Sally still looked worried. "What if Robotnik finds the special zones though?"
Sonic shook his hand, unconcerned. "Naww, Tails is right. The Chaotix are the only ones who know where the special zones are, and only Knux knows all of their hidey-holes. Even if someone did manage to accidentally stumble onto one, they'd have a hard time getting to an emerald. And once they exit the zone, with or without an emerald, that zone entrance becomes inaccessible until all the emeralds are held by one person. They're perfectly safe."
Sally still wasn't convinced. "But if Robotnik's got new lieutenants… more robots as crafty and resourceful as Mecha Sonic…"
Uncle Chuck interrupted. "Perhaps we should contact Knuckles and warn him before we turn our attention to the real reason I called you here," he suggested.
Sonic, Sally and Tails turned to him in surprise. There was more?
**********
Knuckles furrowed his brow in concern. "So he just up and left?" he asked, pacing up and down his burrow.
Mighty nodded. "Yeah, with no warning or anything. It was a few minutes after I helped him lift the Master Emerald back into position. He just muttered 'Chaos Control,' and disappeared."
'But why?' Knuckles wondered. Why would Shadow just disappear without telling anyone where he was going? Did he need time alone or something? Was he in a grieving mood? "How was he acting before he left?" Knuckles asked.
Mighty shrugged. "Well… thoughtful, I guess. He was muttering about powers… wanting to find what others there were."
Knuckles looked up, relieved. "Well that's not so bad… sounds like he wants to do some research on the Chaos Emeralds, see if he can figure out what else he can do with them."
Mighty looked confused. "You mean there's more powers and abilities that the Chaos Emeralds could give us? I thought all they could do was give power boosts, transform you, Sonic, Tails and Shadow into your ultimate forms, and…"
Knuckles finished his sentence for him. "Chaos Control. My point exactly. We only just found out about that power last week, when we met Shadow. Chaos Emeralds are the ultimate power source – who knows what other mysteries they hide?"
Mighty nodded, looking thoughtful. "Do you think we should go looking for him?" he wondered.
Knuckles shook his head. "Nahhh. If Shadow's gone to research the Chaos Emeralds, he won't still be on the island."
Mighty was still concerned. "Doesn't that worry you? What if he ran into Eggman's forces?"
An irritating beeping sound interrupted their conversation. Knuckles turned his head to see the red light flashing on the transistor radio on the table. Someone was trying to contact him. Knuckles waved his hand nonchalantly at Mighty as he walked over to it. "He probably went to the ARK or Prison Island – that would be the best place to find notes from Eggman's grandfather's research. Not much chance of bumping into Eggman there. Besides, Shadow demonstrated today that he can quite easily take care of himself." Knuckles pulled the antennae out to maximum height, held the device to his dreadlock-covered ear, and pushed the talk button. "Knuckles here, over."
**********
Knuckles had indeed been correct in his assumption. Shadow had investigated first the ARK, and then the abandoned Prison Island facility, but in both searches he'd come up empty. Trying to think of where he should continue his investigation, Shadow walked through Station Square, downcast at his lack of success thus far. When he finally did sigh and look up, it was to see that he was directly outside the city's library. Shadow's heart leapt in excitement. Of course! What better place to research something than a storepile of books and other informative resources? Shadow ran in and up to a teenage human girl behind the counter, who smiled pleasantly down at him. "Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm looking for information on the Chaos Emeralds," Shadow explained. "Do you know where I could find any?"
The girl frowned. Someone looking for info on the Chaos Emeralds? Sounded pretty shady to her. She was about to call for security when she noticed the red markings on Shadow's quills and recognised him.
"Hey wait! Aren't you that hedgehog who helped saved Mobius last week? Ummm... Shadow, isn't it?"
Shadow nodded, and the girl smiled. "Well for you, I think we can make an acception," she said, tapping away at the keyboard and waiting for a data search to complete. After a minute she frowned, and looked down at Shadow again. "I'm afraid that we don't actually have any resources that contain information on the Chaos Emeralds. The closest thing that I could find is "A guide to mystical and ancient talismans of power," she said.
Shadow still looked hopeful. "That book would be sure to have what I'm looking for! Where can I find it?"
"Not here, I'm sorry to say. That book was actually donated to our sister library in Mobotropolis, a long time ago."
Shadow shrugged. He would just have to go to Mobotropolis then. Hmm, interesting name. And coincidental that it just happened to rhyme with the name of Eggman's city, Robotropolis... oh no.
The girl saw the look of recognition on Shadow's face and smiled sadly. "Yes," she confirmed, sighing. "I'm afraid that city was conquered and totally transformed into a dark shadow of itself by the evil scientist, Dr. Robotnik. Who knows if the library there is even still standing?" she wondered. Shadow stared glumly down at the floor. Now what was he supposed to do?
*********
"Yeah, we thought that Eggman might be up to something again," came the crackly reply over Uncle Chuck's radio. "We had an uninvited squad of Eggrobos drop by earlier. They were trying to get at the Master Emerald, surprise, surprise."
Sally grimaced. "Everyone okay, I hope?" she asked.
A laugh came back from the other side. "Yeah, we're all fine," Knuckles chuckled. "You know that saying, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn? Those things couldn't hit the Mobius Trade Centre at thirty paces." His tone turned serious again. "But thanks for the warning, Sally. If Eggman tries anything else, we'll be ready for him this time."
Sally nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her, and spoke into the device again. "Glad to hear it Knuckles. Listen, we may be sending a few Freedom Fighters to assist anyway, but if you need any help, you always know where to reach us."
"Yeah, thanks Sally. We'll be in touch. Knuckles signing off."
**********
Knuckles frowned down at the now silent radio. Figures. It never rains, but it pours. Not only did he have to guard the Master Emerald, but now also the Chaos Emeralds too. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about," he murmured, placing the radio back down on the table.
Mighty placed an arm on his shoulder. "Hey, look on the bright side, Knux. We just have to make sure that no-one gets into the ring portals, right? And there's no need to worry about them getting Shadow's…"
Knuckles gasped as he remembered. Shadow! Shadow had an emerald! Turning the radio back on, he put it back to his ear and pushed the talk button again. "Sally, do you read me? It's Knuckles again. …Princess Sally? Sir Charles?" Knuckles frowned and looked at the device. The red light had gone out. Knuckles cursed. The batteries were dead! "Where's Vector?" he asked, banging the radio against the wall rather then looking up at his friend.
"Down at the swamp, I think…" Mighty started.
"You think?!?" Knuckles asked, looking annoyed. "That's our biggest problem. We all go our separate ways around here, instead of sticking together! We need to be more interdependent, and centre ourselves around one major base. Like Sonic and Sally, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters at Knothole. Our lack of organization could have proved disastrous today! Find him, we need some batteries, and he always has some for his walkman. Then find everyone else, and tell them to get here. We need to tell them what's going on."
Mighty nodded and headed for the entrance, then paused. "Do we really need the batteries, Knux?" he asked hesitantly.
"The Princess has a right to know that Shadow has an emerald, Mighty."
"Well sure, but there's no way Shadow will ever give up that thing whilst he's still alive…"
Knuckles finally looked up from shaking the radio up and down. "That's what I'm afraid of, Mighty."
**********
"Tell me Sonic, did you bring a power ring with you?" Uncle Chuck asked.
Sonic looked confused, but dug into his backpack and produced a golden ring, being sure not to activate it yet. "Well sure, Unc. Never leave home without 'em. In fact..." he added, pulling another two rings identical to the first out, "I brought a few spares. It took 3 rings to bust me out of the roboticiser that time Eggman almost got me, and while I don't intend to get stuck in one of those again any time too soon, better safe than sorry."
"Excellent," Uncle Chuck said, taking two of the rings, and handing one each to Sally and Tails, who accepted them with great confusion. "What good are these to us, Uncle Chuck?" Tails asked. "I thought that Sonic was the only person who could use them?"
Charles chuckled light-heartedly and shook his head. "It's time that you learned the secrets of the rings, my friends. They can be used by anyone, just like the object I created them from can be."
"And what would that be?" Sally asked.
"That, my dear, would be a Chaos Emerald."
Sonic, Tails and Sally all gaped at each other, then paid close attention as Uncle Chuck explained his story.
"Back when I was the King's leading scientist, he gave me permission to work with the Kingdom's Chaos Emerald. At the time, its energy was what powered the city instead of electricity, making Mobotropolis an environmentally friendly place," he explained, frowning as he thought about how that had changed for the worst, with Robotnik's factories polluting the area. "The King thought it would be a good idea to attempt to clone, or to make a copy of the emerald, as the population was always growing, and more energy would likely be required. After all, a Chaos Emerald on its own was all well and good, but another of the same limitless power-filled stones would make things even better. Unfortunately, I was never able to complete this task. The Chaos Emeralds are natural forces, and no artificial creation could ever compare to their infinite energy supply. Although I understand you came pretty close, Tails?"
The young fox nodded, remembering the fake Chaos Emerald he had created, designed to neutralise the power of the real emeralds, much like the Master Emerald did. Tails' emerald had been destroyed in the battle for survival last week, when all of Mobius had come so close to being wiped out.
Uncle Chuck continued his explanation. "However, while I failed to create a duplicate emerald, I had a success of a different nature, when I produced the power rock. As you all know, this rock lies in the energy module in Knothole's Grotto, and thus produces a new power ring every several hours. Now, while the power rings could never live up to the Chaos Emeralds, what with their limited and short-lasting power supply, they are similar in that they can give the holder the energy to enhance their natural abilities, but only if they are pure of heart. This is the greatest advantage for us that the rings hold over the emeralds - no force of evil can ever use them, nor can a machine."
Sonic scratched his head. "That doesn't fit right..." he mumbled to himself, trying to figure out what was wrong with the last part of his uncle's explanation. Then it came to him, and he sat up and snapped his fingers. "What about that time that Antoine goofed? Eggman got his oily mitts on a ring then, and used it to power that Sonic radar!"
Uncle Chuck grimaced at that. "Not quite, Sonny boy. Robotnik had the technology and resources for that machine the whole time, he was just too ignorant to realise it." He paused to let that sink in, before turning his attention back to the rings. "As you noted, Sonic, the more rings one holds, the more power they have. The energy lasts longer, too."
Tails interrupted then. "So, if Sonic had like... a gazillion rings, then would he be able to turn into Super Sonic, without using the emeralds?" he asked.
Uncle Chuck shook his head. "No, Tails. While the ring technology was developed from the Chaos Emeralds, the way they give out their power is slightly different."
"So holding many, many rings would result in something more like what the deep power stones did to us then?" Sally asked. The deep power stones had been used by her and Sonic against the Doomsday Project. Absorbing the power equal to that of thousands of rings, the two of them had sped through Robotropolis glowing a bright magenta, managing to free all the imprisoned Freedom Fighters and destroy a large section of the city, including (as they had thought at the time) Robotnik himself.
Uncle Chuck nodded again. "Exactly, Sally! The more rings you have, the closer you get to holding that kind of power. Now, the power rock was more than enough to do the job I had originally intended it for. By placing it in the Knothole grotto, and collecting the rings it produced, we had more than enough energy to power the city. The only reason that we found out about how they can be used by Mobians was that one time I got Sonic to deliver the latest batch from Knothole to Mobotropolis, and he accidentally activated one, bringing him back at record time. That's why for so long, everyone thought that Sonic was the only one able to use them."
Sally looked thoughtful. "You mentioned, 'Mobians,' Uncle Chuck. Would an Overlander be able to use the rings too?" she asked.
Uncle Chuck tapped his metallic chin thoughtfully and considered this. "I don't know," he admitted. "We never had a chance to test them out on humans. However, I would say yes. As long as they were pure of heart, that is."
At this point, the radio started squawking again. "Princess Sally? Sir Charles? Are you there? Do you read me?" It was Knuckles again.
"We hear you Knuckles, go ahead," Sally responded, picking up the communicator.
"Just thought you should know this. Shadow's been using the green emerald to warp around the island when we need to. He left the island a little earlier this afternoon - we think he went to do some research on the Chaos Emeralds."
Sally frowned, considering the implications of this. "Roger that Knuckles, thanks for letting us know. Anything else?"
"Not really. But if you see him before we do, can you tell him to report back? We need to discuss defending the island."
"Will do," Sally replied. "Take care, Knuckles."
"You too, Princess. Over and out."
The radio became silent again. Sonic, picking up on the Princess' sour mood shook his head. "Chill, Sal. If Shadow's researching the emeralds, then the best place to do it would be on the ARK or out around Station Square. Not much chance of running into Eggman there..."
Sonic had intended to add an, "Is there?" to the end of his sentence, but was interrupted by a blaring alarm from the computers. Uncle Chuck ran over and muted the alarm, checking what the problem was. "Robotnik's security forces seemed to have blown up a building in downtown Robotropolis, in response to an intruder alert... oh no. That's the building that used to be the Mobotropolis library!"
Sally gave Sonic a look, and he flinched. "Okay, so I was wrong! No biggee!"
"It's a major biggee, Sonic! If Robotnik gets that emerald..."
Tails was already running through the door. Sonic hated to be rude, (well, not really) but now was the time to take action. He belted for the door too, and had overtaken Tails within seconds. Sally lagged behind them both, taking longer because she had to wake up the snoozing Ducly and saddle up first.
**********
Shadow couldn't believe his good luck. Not only was the library still standing, but it even still had all its books inside! Eggman had apparently neglected to trash this area of town. Shadow walked inside and gazed along the darkened shelves of books, using the Chaos Emerald to light his path. He had taken a moment to get down the book's call number from the girl back in Station Square, so locating it only took him a few minutes. Shaking in excitement, Shadow sat down at a table and opened the book, flipping through it until he found the Chaos Emeralds chapter. He leant down close and started speed-reading through it. "Long have the Chaos Emeralds been symbols of power... ancient jewels containing limitless energy... blah blah blah..." he muttered, turning pages in search of what he wanted. At last, he found it. "Here we go... the Chaos Emeralds play host to a range of extraordinary powers, all of which can be activated by use of a simple incantation... Not only that, but for each individual in possession of an emerald, the jewel also awards them with their own unique ability, if they are able to find it. There is no particular incantation for this, as each ability is unique to each person and only them. However, an incantation of their own invention should be used for this."
After that, there was a list of all the different abilities, and the incantations required to activate them. Chaos Control was at the top of the list, unsurprisingly. Shadow read down the page in wonder. Wow! The things he could do with these powers! This one old page out of a long forgotten book could very well be the key to defeating Robotnik! He closed the book and picked it up, planning to return to the Floating Island and show his discovery to Knuckles. But before he had that chance, there was an explosion in the room, throwing Shadow forwards, away from his backpack, where he had just stowed the Chaos Emerald.
Shadow landed painfully on his back, groaning as he tried to rub his bruised quills. Desperation came over his face. Looked like security had gotten the wise of him, and were now ambushing him. Thinking quickly, Shadow reopened the book, and tore out the page he had shown so much interest over. Folding into as small a piece of paper as possible, he hid it up his glove for safe keeping. Then he turned his attention to the Swatbots that were already pouring into the building in search of him. If he could just get to his backpack...
He didn't get the chance. At that point, part of the building collapsed right on top of him.
**********
Sonic had quite an easy time getting to the wrecked library. Only one hover unit passed reasonably close to him, and it paid the blue hedgehog no attention. It was going flat out towards Robotnik's command centre, in the middle of town. By the time that he got to his destination though, there wasn't much left to see. The building looked like ancient ruins, with charred books all over the place. Part of the building had fallen in on itself, aside from the large blast that had opened it up at the front. There were a few wrecked Swatbots littering the place too, that had been unfortunate enough to either get too close to the blast, or were in the history section when it collapsed. He was just about to start digging through the rubble when Dulcy arrived with Sally on her back. The two of them looked around in horror. Sonic looked up at them briefly, vaguely wondering where Tails was, then shrugged and curled into a ball, going into his spindash attack to try and clear some of the rubble.
Dulcy gaped. "You don't think Shadow was in there, do you?"
Sally realised something. "Sonic, there's no Swatbots left here, except for the ones that have been destroyed!"
Sonic came out of his spindash and looked up at her. "So?" he asked.
"So, that means that they already left! Either what they came for got away... or they caught it!"
Sonic paused, then gasped as he remembered the hovercraft he'd passed on the way here. It had been making straight for the Eggman's HQ! Sonic pulled the power ring out of his backpack and blasted off without a second thought, leaving Dulcy to follow from far behind, having no chance of keeping up with his enhanced speed.
*********
Shadow groaned as he regained consciousness, rubbing his woozy head. He was lucky to still be alive, was his first thought. The collapsing building could well have been the end of him. But as he began to take notice of his surroundings, his mouth opened wide in horror as he realised that it may have been the end of him after all. Because he was sitting inside a glass tube in the middle of a laboratory, and on the outside, stood a metallic hedgehog, obviously built to resemble Sonic. Knuckles had told him about this creation. It was Mecha Sonic. The robot stood beside a control panel eagerly, awaiting his orders. The danger of his position evident to him, Shadow went into a spindash and attempted to break free of his prison, but in his weakened, barely conscious condition, he had no chance. Instinctively he reached behind him, as if to pull out the Chaos Emerald from his backpack. Then his eyes fell on the pack, lying on its side on the control panel. The green Chaos Emerald stood beside it, glowing its usual brightness. Shadow started looking all around him in frustration, and saw a monitor facing him, which displayed Dr. Robotnik's smirking face. "No way out this time, hedgehog," he smirked, before breaking into cackles of maniacal glee.
TO BE CONTINUED...