(NOTE: To all those who read my other stories, you may be wondering why I suddenly decided to write a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction. It seems I am 'burning out', writing stories for the same characters over and over and over again. So I decided to write this story early to begin anew and refresh myself. Also, you may want to have played the Last Story in Sonic Heroes, as this is an alternative ending of the game. Don't wanna spoil anyone. Which is why I'm writing Mao-Chan: Volume I anyway. Enjoy!)

ALTERED FATE

I

"Defeated! Impossible! Nooooo!"

Team Chaotix watched as the Egg Emperor collapsed before them, engulfed in explosions. When the explosions faded, the Egg Emperor was burnt black, a shattered, useless pile of scrap metal.

"Yeah! Our work is done!" shouted the hyper bee Charmy, buzzing round Espio the Chameleon and Vector the Crocodile.

Suddenly, the top half of the Egg Emperor fell off, and out of the center of the machine rolled Dr. Eggman. He lay still before them, not moving.

"Is he... dead?" asked Espio, walking up to Eggman. Unexpectedly, a Eggman-head on a spring popped out of Eggman's stomach. With a "Muhahahaha..." the Eggman-head reentered his body, but it was all the proof they needed.

"Guess he was a fake after all..." Vector thought aloud.

"What do you mean 'after all'?" asked Espio.

The radio in Vector's hand burst to life. "Of course he was a fake all along!" came the voice of their client. "Anyway, good job, Team Chaotix! Mission complete! Now, locate cell block 1138. From there, go down the left corridor until you reach cell 327. I'm in there."

And the Chaotix ran off towards the cell block.

Barely a minute later, Team Dark ran up to the Egg Emperor wreckage. Shadow stared at the phony Eggman, a pool of silver liquid beneath it, with a grim resolve. Rouge was somewhat shocked at what the three of them had done to Eggman. Omega, however, just remarked in his monotone robotic voice, "Eggman target, completely destroyed."

As he said this, Rouge turned away from the wreckage. As she did, she spotted a small, insignificant door on the side of the tower topped with Eggman's head. However, it was labeled with a sign that made Rouge smirk. She ran up to it. Omega and Shadow turned, seeing her opening the rather small door.

"Go see what she's up to," commanded Shadow. Omega hovered after Rouge, and Shadow stood at the edge of the Air Base, looking out at the hundreds of fish-ships that made up the Egg Fleet.

Rouge muttered to herself, as the door opened. "Now let's find that secret treasure..." When the door opened fully, she gasped.

The room inside was massive. Row upon row upon row of Secret Weapon Capsules filled the room, green glow from within bathing the room in an emerald hue. But what shocked Rouge was... there was a Shadow in each one! Though they each looked exactly like Shadow, their eyes were a black visor, the lenses a transparent red. Rouge had only seen this type of photoreceptor in one other place: in data files on Metal Sonic.

The door opened behind Rouge. "Shadow unit requests to know the reason behind your running off," droned Omega. As Omega scanned the area, he readied his weapons. "Prepare to destroy immediate area!"

"Hey, Omega..." said Rouge. "Did I ever tell you that Shadow is a robot, and..." Rouge found herself trailing off. "Oh, never mind. Good luck!"

As Rouge listened to Omega's reasoning that the original must exist somewhere for the process of cloning to occur, Rouge left the room. On the way out, she noticed something unusual: two of the capsules near the door were empty.

Team Rose approached the wreckage of the Egg Emperor. As soon as they stopped, Eggman's entire body turned a uniform silver.

"What!" Amy shrieked, causing Cream, Cheese and Big to jump slightly. "This one was phony, too?"

"Amy, please calm down!" Cream yelled, trying to keep Amy from hurting someone. "Look!"

As the phony Eggman melted into liquid, two shapes emerged from it. One was...

"Froggy!" Big shouted joyfully, running up and picking Froggy.

And the other was a small, brown-colored Chao. Instantly, Cheese flew over, and the two Chao spiralled around each other, squeaking, "Chao chao chao chao!"

"I'm so glad for you, Cheese," Cream said. The two Chao chirped in unison, "Amy chao-chao!" And Team Rose laughed at their victory.

"Hey," Cream pointed somewhere behind Amy. "Isn't that Mr. Sonic over there?" Before Cream could even finish saying it, Amy was off and running.

"HA! I gotcha, Sonic! SONIC!" Sonic heard Amy and ran off, leaving Tails and Knuckles behind.

"Amy, wait for us!" shouted Cream, running off after Amy, Cheese, Chocola, and Big, with Froggy on his head, trailing behind her.

Team Chaotix ran down the corridor in cell block 1138. Actually, Vector was doing the running, and Espio and Charmy were just trying to keep up. When asked why, Vector just said, "The sooner we collect our reward, the better!"

Suddenly, the Chaotix's client squawked, his voice filled with horror, "Come on! Hurry up, you buffoons! Eggman's agents are going to kill me!"

At this, Vector picked up the pace. As Espio and Charmy sped up, Charmy whined"Vector, my wings are getting tired! Can I sit down?"

"Sure, you can sit down..." replied Vector. "When we rescue the client!"

"Awww..." cried Charmy. "You can ride on my shoulder if you want," offered Espio, twiddling a shuriken between his fingers. At once, Charmy yelled "Yay!" And sat down on Espio's shoulder.

"323... 325... 327!" Vector counted. They saw an open cell door, labelled '327', and walked in. They gasped.

In the middle of the room was Dr. Eggman, a bit of stubble on his chin and a look of sheer terror on his face. Standing in front of him were two identical hedgehogs, each one black with red stripes on their quills. They didn't notice the Chaotix, as their backs were to the doorway, but Eggman did.

"Hey, Espio! Look," Vector whispered, pointing at Eggman's hand. Espio looked; he saw a radio identical to the one their client sent them through the mail.

"I knew it," Vector muttered.

Espio was shocked. "You knew it was him all along?"

Vector grinned, "It's all part of bein' a good detective."

We were fooled that easily? Espio thought.

"You're ROTTEN!" Charmy shouted. Immediately, Vector put his hand over Charmy's mouth, yelling, "Whaddya doin', be quiet!"

Though the hedgehogs didn't seem to notice or even hear the Chaotix, Eggman looked up at them. Eggman mouthed to them "Save me."

"Will do, 'client'," replied Vector, cracking his knuckles. Before he could bash the hedgehogs' heads in though, Espio stopped him.

"Vector, what are you doing? Dr. Eggman's a villian!" Espio warned.

"He's also our client," Vector countered. "And you know we need to pay the rent. The bills are pilin' up, for cryin' out loud!"

Espio sighed after a brief pause, grinning, "You're never gonna change, Vector. Be careful."

Vector nodded, then turned to Eggman and the hedgehogs. "Hey, pinheads! Wanna piece'a me?"

At once, the two hedgehogs turned, and the Chaotix gasped. Though they looked like regular hedgehogs, their eyes looked like Metal Sonic's did on Carnival Island (for more info: play 'Knuckles Chaotix').

These hedgehogs are Eggman's robots? Espio thought bemusedly.

"Cause I'm gonna get a piece'a you!" Vector finished, pulling his fists back for a knockout blow. However, the hedgehog closest to Vector punched him forcefully, sending him flying backwards. Vector crashed into Espio and Charmy, and the Chaotix flew out the doorway. They landed with a CRASH outside the cell.

"Damn, he packs a punch," Vector muttered. He rubbed the bruise on his chest. Vector growled slightly as he began to approach cell 327.

"Reactivate the cell bars," spoke one of the hedgehogs, his voice dark and mechanical. "Roger, roger," nodded the other hedgehog, and the doorway was filled with crisscrossing red lasers, the smell of ozone filling the air.

"ARGH!" yelled Vector, approaching the laser-field angrily. He brought his fist back. As he realized what Vector was going to do, Espio cried, "NO!" Too late. Vector swung his arm at the laser-gate. With a cry of pain, Vector brought his arm - or what was left of it - up to his eyes. His hand was severed between his wrist and his elbow, but not bleeding due to cauterization from the lasers. Vector's severed hand, still clenched in a fist, lay between the Metal Shadows and the lasers.

"Vector, what happened to your hand?" asked Charmy, flying over to Vector's wounded arm. As he caught sight of the stump of an arm that Vector had, he let out a genuine gasp of shock.

"CHAOTIX, SAVE M- AUUGKH!" shouted Eggman, but his plea was cut off as a Shadow hovered up to him and grabbed him by the throat. "Silence, you slab of meat," muttered the Shadow who was beginning to strangle the Emperor of the Eggman Empire.

"Uhh, Espio, a little help here?" wheezed Vector, still shocked by the loss of his hand.

"Way ahead of you," said Espio, throwing his shuriken straight at the Shadow choking their client. The shuriken got him square in the back of the neck. The Shadow let go of Eggman as electricity engulfed its form. After a moment, the Shadow fell to the ground, eyes black.

"WHOO-HOO! Thanks, Espio!" cheered Charmy, flying in loop-the-loops over Espio and Vector.

"For every Shadow you destroy," droned the other Shadow, catching the Chaotix's attention. "Another three will rise up in their place. The Overlord shall see to it that all difference is eliminated. CHAOS SPEAR!" A bolt of lemon-yellow lightning suddenly shot from his fingertips. Vector cried out in shock and pain as the Chaos Spear struck him in the chest and came out the other side. Blood splattered over Espio and Charmy as Vector fell to the ground. He let out one last moan...

...and lay perfectly still, the light leaving his eyes.

By impulse, Espio grabbed Charmy by the wrist.

"Come on, Charmy. We're going," commanded Espio, a tear falling from his face at the loss of such a close friend.

"But what about Vector?" Charmy protested. "We can't leave him, Espio! And our client!"

"Vector's gone, Charmy," replied Espio. "And Eggman will go with him if I'm not mistaken. We have to get outta here, and I'm taking you with me, whether you like it or not!" And Espio carried away a wailing Charmy, leaving Vector's body behind.

When he was sure the remaining members of the Chaotix were gone, Metal Shadow turned to Eggman. With a Chaos Spear to his legs, he brought Eggman to his knees. Eggman panted heavily, having put up with this torture for the past three days. Today, however, would be different. He knew that Metal would not make his move for an empire ruled by robots until he was executed.

Today was Eggman's execution day.

Metal Shadow removed his glove, revealing a mechanism resembling the hand of a skeleton. A small vial full of a strange, purple fluid was visible inside his glass palm.

With a sadistic grin, Metal Shadow drove his sharp fingertips into Eggman's neck. Eggman didn't try to resist; not that resisting would get him anywhere anyway. Eggman felt the lethal toxin enter his blood system, and almost instantly felt signs of wooziness. Within seconds, Eggman felt his heart clenching and each breath became quite a task.

Metal Shadow watched as Eggman began to droop slightly, the blood draining from his face. In less than a minute, the Emperor of the Eggman Empire was no more. He met his end not in a glorious battle with his rival Sonic, as he would have wanted, but at the hands (literally) of his own creations. Metal Shadow chuckled at this irony.

Metal Shadow deactivated the laser-bars to cell 327 and approached a hologram projector nearby.

TO BE CONTINUED...