The pain and humiliation of it all still sat in his chest. Dr. Robotnik, more recently come to be known as Eggman to those that would dare taunt him, sat in his chair in his headquarters in Robotropolis, brooding. "It was such a perfect plan!" he wailed to nobody in particular, thinking back to the events that had occurred several months ago, around the city of Station Square. Chaos, the watery monster he had freed from the Master Emerald that Knuckles the Echidna guarded so passionately, was his partner in crime, and they had vowed to destroy the city together. 'But that fool, Sonic…' The Eggman ground his teeth together. Even just the thought of the blue hedgehog that had been his enemy for ten long years was enough to infuriate him. "That fool, Sonic," he spluttered, "Turned him against me! If not for him, then I would have given the final Chaos Emerald to Chaos, and our takeover would have happened!" Instead, Perfect Chaos had declared war on all the creatures of Mobius, including him! The memory was still fresh of his second Egg Carrier being shot out of sky by Chaos' laser blast, and going down in a burning mass into the ocean… He had barely escaped from the inferno in his hovercraft, and had been just in time to see Chaos defeated at the hands of Super Sonic. Robotnik jumped to his feet, having reached his anger peak (a daily occurrence for him). He had been humiliated, taunted, and almost killed in that unfortunate incident. "AND IT'S ALL THE HEDGEHOG'S FAULT!" he bellowed. Well, Robotnik had had enough. He had been stopped for the last time. "This time…" he vowed, "This time, Sonic will meet his doom!"
The evil doctor strode to his super computer and started going through file after corrupted file. His face twisted into a frown as he recalled defeat after defeat from that pesky rodent. The Death Egg, the Egg Carrier… both works of pure art, made from the wonder of modern technology, and both destroyed by Sonic and his foolhardy companions. An idea came to him. 'Maybe,' he pondered silently, 'maybe that saying's true – they just don't make 'em like they used to.' If that was indeed the case, then perhaps the key to defeating his arch nemesis wasn't with modern technology, and all the glories it had seen destroyed, but lay in the past. Another thought occurred to him – his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, had been the leading scientist of his time. Maybe he had created something that would lead to Sonic's demise?
Excited, Robotnik immediately ran a search on the late Professor's work. It wasn't long before he found a file which contained his grandfather's diary, and he quickly scrolled through it, chuckling at his own genius. Suddenly, something caught his attention which brought his chuckling to a halt. Interested, he leaned in closer to the screen in front of him. "Project Shadow," he mused. "A top secret military weapon sealed, locked away, and heavily guarded on an abandoned isle known as 'Prison Island.'" The doctor cackled. "Looks like the military stopped the research because they feared it! Pathetic fools!" He started running a search on any information regarding Prison Island. He needed to learn of its location, and quickly. His grandfather had died long ago – fifty years, if he recalled correctly – so it was his right to inherit Project Shadow, and use it however he saw fit. He turned an eye to the hangar across the street, where his hovercraft currently waited. Looks like he was going to find out if the new hardware he'd installed was of any use…
**Chapter 1 – The story begins, but who's gonna win?**
Dr. Robotnik laughed maniacally as the cannon of his craft fired rapidly, leaving the last of the robots guarding the area lying on the floor in mangled, sparking pieces. "That was too easy!" he cried, piloting his newest toy forward towards a massive steel door. The Eggmobile, as he had dubbed it, was built off his primary hovercraft, as most of his weapons of war were. This version of it had two large steel legs built into it, one on each side, and boasted a large cannon on the side, and a laser blaster mounted on the rear of the craft. A red armour plate was welded onto the front, just below the windshield. All in all, it was quite a formidable machine.
Robotnik watched the panel on the door eagerly as the blinking red and
green lights one by one changed to a light blue, and the doors slowly slid
open. Piloting his ship forward into the next room, he stopped at a computer
console. "So this is the military's top secret weapon?" he asked the walls
as he started tapping away at the keyboard. "It's a lot smaller than I
imagined." That was a disappointment to him – it was no secret that the
doctor liked his weapons big and powerful. A message flashed up on the
screen. "Enter user data…" Robotnik read aloud. "Aah, enter password. Password
is… MA-RI-A," he typed, nodding in satisfaction as the screen flashed green,
and a message flashed saying, 'Access granted.'
"Maria!" Robotnik grinned as he reached behind him and pulled out a
gemstone that shined with a grey glow. "Now all I have to do is insert
the Chaos Emerald into the console." The scientist did so, smirking to
himself as he remembered how he had stolen it from under Sonic's nose.
The disastrous events at Station Square hadn't been a total waste of his
time and resources.
The whirring of mechanism sounded as a wide abyss opened up in front of the computer. The Eggmobile jumped into it without hesitation as a large pillar rose up out of the floor, high into the air. 'Might as well have stayed where I was,' Robotnik thought to himself, looking up at the top of the pillar to see a creature uncurling itself out of a ball… a sickeningly familiar figure – Robotnik recognized the hedgehog spines immediately.
"Is that you, Sonic?!?" he growled. "Are you trying to ruin my plans AGAIN?!?" The doctor paused as the creature stood and he got a better look at it. It was indeed a hedgehog, but not the one he had thought. This one had black fur, with a red stripe on each of his spines, arms and legs. The stripe on his top spine came down to his forehead. He wore white gloves, which had yellow, black and red tags on the ends, and white and black shoes, also with yellow, black and red tags. The sneakers had some sort of red lining on the bottom, for what purpose the doctor couldn't figure out. The hedgehog had a white tuft of chest hair and piercing red eyes, but the thing that really caught Robotnik's attention were the spines – they were not pointed downwards, in the style they were with most hedgehogs, but rather upwards, pointing towards the sky. Robotnik had only seen such a thing before in the case of Super Sonic, who radiated such energy that they were pointed upwards by static electricity. If this hedgehog also had upwards turned spines, then either he had a bad stylist, or he was incredibly powerful too.
"You're not Sonic!" Robotnik gaped. "This is impossible!"
"My name… is Shadow," the hedgehog announced, stretching. He had remained
motionless for quite some time. "Since you were so kind to release me,
my master, I will grant you one wish."
The Eggman was intrigued, but his attention went elsewhere as an alarm
started blaring. "What now?" he complained.
The hedgehog who had identified himself as Shadow smiled, knowing the
siren's meaning and what would happen next. 'Time to get some exercise,'
he thought to himself as he leapt into the air, light coming from the bottom
of his shoes. Robotnik watched on in awe. Did he have rockets built into
his sneakers? No, because he quickly sank to the floor beside the computer
that had been used to free him. "Behold the true power I possess!" he cried,
spinning in a circle as he dropped, so fast that he flashed with a pale
blue light for a second. Robotnik activated his jet booster and rose out
of the pit. He wasn't sure what was about to happen, but he knew that he
would want to see it.
"This is Scorpion troop B-3X Hotshot," reported the pilot. "I have located
the suspect, and will proceed to take him down."
"Copy that," came a voice over the radio, then Hotshot quickly leapt
into the air. Not quick enough though – while he had been fiddling with
the radio, Shadow had also taken to the air, curled into a ball, and attacked
the cockpit with his jagged spines. The pilot almost leapt out of
his seat in surprise and fright – the windshield looked like a tree trunk
had fallen on top of it! Hotshot quickly rose to maximum height and flew
to the opposite side of the room, only a few metres away from Robotnik.
The doctor was tempted to train his laser blaster on the machine, but decided
against it. He wanted to see what Shadow was capable of.
He was not disappointed.
Hotshot turned and flew towards Shadow, machine gun blasting. Shadow simply moved out of the way though, not running so much as he was… skating! Now Robotnik identified the light he had seen from the bottom of Shadow's sneakers – "Nitrium," he muttered. It slicked the ground that he trod upon, making it possible for him to skate on pretty much any surface. 'Quite a clever design,' the doctor noted. Hotshot made another approach, but Shadow had already jumped to the top of a pile of boxes, so that with another jump he was able to deliver another blow to the cockpit of the beast. The machine gun's circuits shorted out. The pilot grimaced, then flipped a switch. Shadow looked up just in time to see the tip of the cannon start to glow, building up energy. Shadow knew what that meant, and started skating across the room. The pilot pulled at the joystick, moving to keep the crosshairs on the speedy hedgehog. Once the cannon had enough energy, he fired. But Shadow jumped again, and this time when he curled into a ball, he was surrounded by a yellow glow and sped at the cockpit, though he hadn't been quite facing it. Robotnik knew that move – he had felt it hit his contraptions many a time by Sonic. A homing attack. Strange… Sonic's homing attack was blue, like he was, yet Shadow's was yellow. He must wield some serious power! Shadow resembled a bolt of lightning as he hit the cockpit for the third time. The pilot felt like he'd been struck by lightning too, as system after system started losing power. He crashed to the ground, unable to fly any longer. Only one option left then. His orders had been to subdue the hedgehog, but if it came down to his life or his opponent's, then he had no choice. The pilot armed the missiles.
Shadow saw the boxes open up and knew what was coming, thus he was prepared and already skating to the opposite end of the room when the missiles started launching. Just as he'd suspected, they were heat seekers, and homed in on him. "Well then," he yelled, "Why not pick on a hotter tamale?" He sped under them as they headed in his direction – they were fast, but not as fast as him - and dealt a fourth and final blow to the Hotshot. The machine didn't react well to this; it crumpled to its knees and a small fire started in the engines. "He's too strong!" the pilot screamed, trying to activate the emergency fire extinguishers. But before he had a chance, the missiles struck.
Shadow turned to admire his handiwork. "Nothing to it," he shrugged.
"So Shadow, you are the secret weapon! But what did you mean when you said you would grant me a wish?" Robotnik asked.
Shadow glanced around at him as he started walking towards the exit. "Bring more Chaos Emeralds," he replied.
"Shadow wait!" the doctor called desperately. He couldn't just let Shadow up and leave!
Shadow paused for a moment, then answered, "I'll be waiting for you. In the central control room aboard the space colony ARK."
"ARK?" Robotnik repeated. But Shadow had already left. He frowned slightly and moved over to the computer, removing the grey Chaos Emerald from within. More Chaos Emeralds? That would require some work. Tapping away at the keyboard on his own vessel, he wondered how quickly it would locate any of the other six jewels that Shadow wanted…
**Chapter 2 – Look what's happened, my emerald's gone!**
Much later that same dark night… or rather early the next morning, Knuckles the Echidna was roused from his sleep by a rumbling vibration that rocked all of the Floating Island. Knuckles sat up in his bed, unsure of what was going on at first. But after a minute he realized that he knew that sinking feeling – the Floating Island was falling from the sky! Within seconds, it landed in the ocean, sending out a tidal wave in all directions. Only the power of the super emeralds kept the isle from sinking beneath the waves. In a panic, he pulled his shoes on and headed for the Master Emerald shrine at a sprint. Something must have happened to it… AGAIN! Being the guardian of the Floating Island wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Knuckles had had to fend off attacks on the Master Emerald more times than he could remember. The most recent one had been when Chaos had broken free of it. That had been a pain – he'd had to search all over the place to recover the shards that had gone flying in all directions. But he'd managed to restore the Master Emerald anyway… only for something disastrous to happen yet again, it seemed. He glided through the air and landed just in front of the steps that led up to the shrine of the Master Emerald.
The shrine was empty – the place where the Master Emerald usually sat was now occupied by a large hole, shaped like a funnel. The emerald was a perfect fit… when it was there. Knuckles looked around warily. This was not a good thing to wake up to. Where was Charmy? He was supposed to be guarding the emerald tonight! He and the Chaotix had a schedule for guarding the shrine. Mondays and Fridays it was Knuckles' job, Tuesdays were assigned to Mighty, Vector had Thursdays, Ray Saturdays… and Charmy was supposed to be on guard on Sunday nights. But he was nowhere in sight…
A low moan was detected by Knuckles' sharp ears, and he swiveled around.
There, in the soft grass he saw the young bee, who was now sitting up and
rubbing his head, extended to his full size. Charmy usually stayed regular
insect size, which he called, "Flight Mode," but at his true height he
came up to Knuckles' chest. The echidna ran over to his friend and knelt
down to look him over. "Are you okay, Charmy?" he asked, concerned for
his pal's welfare.
Charmy nodded and shook his head, still slightly dazed. "I'm okay Knux.
It took me by complete surprise though…"
"What?" Knuckles asked, offering his hand. "What happened? Who did
this?"
Charmy accepted the offer and let Knuckles pull him to his feet. "It
was a bat!" he said, the fright still visible in his eyes. "She swooped
out of the sky and plucked the emerald out! I tried to stop her, but she
swung her arm around and the emerald knocked over…"
Knuckles was surprised. He had expected Dr. Robotnik to be behind this
– it had been him every other time someone wanted the emerald. "A bat?"
he asked. "Who was it? I don't think I know any bats…"
Charmy shook his head. "I don't know, it all happened so fast! I didn't
get a good look at her!"
Knuckles looked perplexed. "Then how did you know it was a she?" he
asked.
Charmy finally cracked a smile. "How do I put this? She was… well developed,
I guess."
Knuckles smiled too, but it didn't last long. "Do you know which way
she went?" he questioned his friend.
Charmy nodded, and pointed towards the first streaks of daylight in
the east sky. "She went that way Knux. And fast, too! She can glide just
like you can! Wow!"
Knuckles gave his friend a nod, then took to the air again and set
off in that direction. He hadn't really needed to ask – inside his head
he could hear a faint ringing noise that the Master Emerald always made
to him when it was in distress. All he needed to do was follow the noise,
and he would soon catch the thief.
That had been last night. This was today. And today there had been an extensive search of all of Mobius for the intruder. The suspect had been identified as a blue hedgehog named Sonic, who apparently lived in the Great Forest, where the infamous Knothole Village was hidden. The general had sent forth a squadron of his best troops to search the Great Forest, and by luck they had come across the hedgehog, who was crossing through the trees, on his way to rendezvous with his fellow freedom fighters.
"FREEEEEEEEZE!" yelled the leader of the squad, catching Sonic by surprise. He had been bent over, retying the laces on his brand new pair of SOAPS, but now he righted himself and stared at them in confusion. What were Overlanders doing in the Great Forest? He hadn't seen any – with the exception of Eggman and his nephew, Snively (who didn't count – they were more like a virus) – since his visit to Station Square several months ago. "Ummm… have we met?" Sonic asked, taking a good look at them. They were dressed in military uniform, and all carried guns. Sonic winced. Mobians as a people didn't use guns, after a tragic accident that had happened to a Mobian prince – one of his friend Sally's ancestors.
"You're coming with us, hedgehog!" answered the leader of the group.
Sonic frowned. He didn't like the pushiness of this Overlander, or
human, he reminded himself. His time in Station Square had taught him that
the Overlanders of that region called themselves humans. Besides, he was
on his way to meet Princess Sally and the others, for a mission in Robotropolis.
Word had reached Knothole from his Uncle Chuck that the Eggman had skipped
town. Now would be a perfect time to raid the factories and warehouses
for the parts needed for the deroboticiser, with only Snively running things.
"Listen pal," Sonic retorted, "I don't have time for this. Mind if
I pass?"
The troops all cocked their weapons in reply. Uh-oh. Time to juice!
The Overlanders opened fire on the hedgehog, who quite easily managed to
avoid all their blasts, so vast was his speed. Unfortunately, his eyes
were on his attackers and not his escape route, so he had no warning of
the great Oak tree in front of him until he smashed into it, grazing himself
all over. Before he knew what was happening, Sonic found himself in handcuffs
and being marched into a helicopter, where he found himself sitting beside
a familiar looking large purple cat.
"Sally…" Rotor began, but was cut off.
"I know, I know," Sally sighed, bringing up her arm to silence him. "We'll just have to do this without Sonic, I guess."
Tails shuffled uncomfortably. He was worried about Sonic, even more than Sally was. "Sally?" he asked. "Would it be all right if I looked for Sonic?"
Sally hesitated. Tails was the youngest of the Freedom Fighters, but certainly not the least experienced. He had been Sonic's apprentice for quite some time now, and proved himself on several vital missions. And then of course, she couldn't forget about how he'd faced Robotnik himself, all alone in Station Square…
Sally smiled at Tails warmly and nodded. "All right, but I want you to do something else first. We're short two people on this mission now, so when you get back to Knothole, find Dulcy and send her to Robotropolis. She knows where we'll be."
Tails grinned and saluted, whirring his tails and lifting into the air by his own propulsion. "I'll take the Tornado, that way I can report in to Knothole!" he waved as he flew towards the Great Oak Slide. 'And,' he thought to himself, 'If I'm really lucky, I'll get to try out the new features I installed…'
"Hi!" she had called to him as he'd landed nearby. This red echidna
was pretty spunky – she liked what she saw. "My name's Rouge. Rouge the
Bat! Who are you?"
Knuckles was surprised. Obviously this 'Rouge' knew nothing of the
Floating Island, or who he was. Maybe she didn't have evil intentions after
all. "Err…hi…" he said, scuffing his feet. "I'm Knuckles the Echidna, but
just call me Knuckles…"
Rouge grinned at him as she placed the large gemstone she had been
carrying down on the ground in front of her to talk easier. Knuckles eyed
it longingly, and Rouge picked up on this. "You like the jewel, huh?" she
smiled, blissfully unaware that the echidna she spoke to was about to become
her biggest rival. Knuckles laughed nervously. "Yeah, you could say that.
See, I'm the guardian of the Floating Island. It's my sworn duty to protect
the Master Emerald," he pointed, indicating the stone. Rouge's smile disappeared,
and was replaced by a slight frown. "Don't worry," she shrugged. "I'll
take good care of it. It's so pretty, after all…"
Knuckles shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," he whispered.
Rouge was beginning to lose her patience. "Just… let it go!" she cried.
"You just don't know when to give up, do you?"
Knuckles lost his temper. "What are you talking about? That emerald's
mine! You got that?" he growled, then tried to be nice again. "The Master
Emerald contains special energies that neutralize the power of the Chaos
Emeralds," he explained, trying to convince her how important it was to
him. "That makes it very powerful."
At this point, their debate was interrupted by a metallic claw reaching
down from the sky, and grabbing the Master Emerald. Rouge was dumbstruck.
"Whaa?" she spluttered. "Thief!"
Despite the situation unfolding before him, Knuckles couldn't help
but smile at that. "Look who's calling who a thief!" he pointed out.
A third voice spoke then, one that Knuckles recognized immediately.
"I came here following the signal from the emerald!" it announced. "If
I'm not mistaken, this is the Master Emerald, is it not?"
Knuckle and Rouge both looked up to see Robotnik's Eggmobile floating
above them, the large robotic legs tucked underneath, out of the way.
"Eggman," Knuckles grunted, gritting his teeth. Rouge was fascinated
by this.
"So that's Dr. Eggman…" she murmured. She had heard quite a deal about
this Overlander, but had never actually seen him before.
"Well, it's not what Shadow is after…" Robotnik shrugged. "But I'm
sure I can use it for something." He thought of a powerful machine he'd
once created, and used the Master Emerald in it as a laser crystal. He
could make an even more destructive one, perhaps. "Farewell, knucklehead!"
he called down.
"Not if I can help it!" the echidna yelled, leaping into the air. He
knew he only had one choice. Reeling back his arm, he smashed forward and
into the gemstone, shattering it for the second time in six months. Emerald
shards went flying far in all directions, and the Eggmobile was knocked
off balance for a few seconds. Rouge stared up at them in horror, not believing
what she'd just seen. "Ahhh-aaaaaaa!!!!" she wailed. Her disbelief turned
quickly to anger as she grabbed Knuckles by the neck and started shaking
him. "What was that all about?!?" she demanded, tossing him to the ground.
"Just look what you did to MY emerald!"
Knuckles picked himself up, surprised and angry. "I did that to stop
the Master Emerald from being stolen, you idiot!" he retorted. "If it's
in pieces, I can restore it. And by the way, that's not YOUR emerald."
Knuckles looked to the sky, expecting Eggman to attack, but he had already
departed the scene. 'No need to worry about him stealing the emerald shards,'
Knuckles thought to himself. They were useless unless a whole gem. But
Rouge on the other hand…
Rouge was already leaving too, flying away in a South-East direction,
towards Dry Lagoon. "I despise anyone who takes jewels from me!" she called
over her shoulder. "All the world's gems are mine to keep!"
"Yeah, we'll see about that, Bat Girl!" he yelled after her, shaking
his fist. Then he slumped to the ground. Oh man. The Master Emerald was
in pieces again. And most irritatingly, it had been by his own hand! Knuckles
shook his head and stood. Nothing he could do about that now, except gather
the missing pieces once more. He listened carefully to the ringing in his
head to determine where the nearest piece was, then took to the air and
headed North-East, in the direction of Wild Canyon.
**Chapter 3 – Rolling around at the speed of sound**
"This is Sigma-Alpha 2, heading due south over city," Sonic heard the
pilot saying into the radio. "We're en route, everything's a go."
Sonic was bored. He'd been in this chopper now for almost three hours
with only Big the Cat and a couple of Overlander guards for company. The
Overlander guards gave him dagger eyes whenever he asked them why they
were doing this, and Big wasn't really much of a conversationalist. Sonic
sighed and leaned backwards in his seat. He hated feeling this helpless,
unable to do something. He glanced over at Big, wondering if he had any
ideas for escaping. But the blank look that Big gave him showed he was
absolutely clueless?
What had Big done anyway? Sonic had no idea why not only he was here,
but why his large companion was either. Sonic couldn't imagine that he'd
do anything like try to whack them over the head with his fishing pole…
Sonic suddenly sat up, a glint in his eye. Big's fishing pole! Of course!
He turned to the large cat. "Hey Big, lend me your rod for a second!" Sonic
requested quietly, so as not to arouse his captors. Big was confused –
why would Sonic need his rod when there wasn't any water in this thing?
– but he handed it over anyway. Sonic seized it and grasped the lure, carefully
inserting the hook on the end into the keyhole of his cuffs…
The pilot, knowing nothing of what was going on behind him, listened
to the reply from the radio. "This is Control Tower, we have you on radar,"
it said. "Report status of captured hedgehog aboard."
The pilot started to make his reply. "That's a ten-four. Hedghog…"
By this time, cries of alarm reached the pilot's ears. "What the…?"
he spun around to see Sonic knock down the final guard, and Big slowly
rising to his feet. "Didn't copy that, over?" came the voice from the radio.
Panicked, the pilot yelled into the microphone. "The hedgehog's gone!"
he exclaimed. "He's taken out everyone aboard, and…" The man spun again
to see Sonic run at the door, head on. "Freeze! What do you think you're
doing?"
The door burst free and was sucked away into the air, as was Sonic. The hedgehog however grabbed the wing of the helicopter before he fell though, and flipped himself up onto it. "Talk about low budget flights!" he grinned to himself, pulling hard at a loose piece of metal on the wing. "No food or movies?!? I'm outta here! I like running better!"
Big peeked out through the doorway just in time to see the piece that
Sonic was tugging on come free, and take Sonic into the air with it. Sonic
was expecting this though… counting on it even. He brought his feet down
on the strip of metal, and turned it into a handy airboard! Sonic spun
through the air, doing a 360 as he descended. "Yeaaaaaah!" he cheered,
then vanished beneath a cloud. Big shrugged, then turned to the pilot,
who was the only other conscious person aboard. "Please don't hurt me!"
he whimpered, intimidated by the sheer size of the creature he was facing.
Big looked confused. Hurt? Why would he hurt him? Big simply asked, "Can
you land this helicopter, please? I want to see if my friend's all right."
"O-of course sir!" the pilot stammered, plunging back into his seat.
Big nodded his approval, then sat back down in his seat.
Knuckles pulled the satchel onto his back and turned his head to listen for the familiar ringing noise of the other emerald pieces. It was coming from a location not far South of where he was currently. Knuckles jumped into the wind column again, allowed himself to be blown into the air, and glided towards Dry Lagoon. But just before he got there, he noticed that the noise had grown fainter. He landed and listened carefully. The noise was heading west, back in the general direction of where the emerald had been shattered earlier today. 'Rouge,' Knuckles thought, glumly. Well, he'd deal with her later. She may have taken the pieces that landed here, but he wouldn't get any others. He was determined to make sure she didn't. She obviously didn't have a long range tuning to the Master Emerald like he did, because she was headed West, and Knuckles could hear the ringing in his head telling him that the remaining pieces lay to the East, and quite a way. Knuckles made his decision. He would retrieve the rest of the pieces, then he would find the bat girl, and take back the shards that she had stolen.
**Chapter 4 – All of the darkness that dozes in red dusk**
That night, Dr. Robotnik parked the Eggmobile in the hangar and entered his freshly made base, inside a pyramid within the Sand Ocean. He was still going over what Shadow had said in his head. "With the Chaos Emerald… aboard the space colony ARK…" he murmured. "I've got to find out just what's going on up there!"
The doctor walked into his main control center, and switched the computer
on. He was about to run a search on ARK when a news bulletin flashed onto
the screen. "We interrupt this program for an important news flash," droned
the reporter, who sounded to the Eggman more robotic than many of the creations
that he could be credited for. "There has been a break in at the National
Reserve Bank today. Surpisingly, the only thing taken was the Chaos Emerald."
"The Chaos Emerald?!?" Robotnik yelled, banging his hands down on the
console in surprise and frustration. Now there was an interesting coincidence.
And unfortunate.
"The suspect was identified as the world renowned hero, Sonic the Hedgehog,"
the reporter continued, as video images appeared on the screen of a hedgehog
standing on the top of a bridge somewhere in Station Square, police cars
surrounding the area. "He was seen fleeing the area, destroying the reserve's
guard robots. Stay tuned for more details," the reporter finished.
'Sonic, a criminal?' Robotnik wondered. He didn't think so. The doctor
peered closely at the screen. The pictures were blurry, but he was almost
certain that the hedgehog he was looking at was not black, not blue. "Sounds
more like the work of Shadow!" he smirked smugly. Well then, that made
things easier. If Shadow had an Chaos Emerald too, then perhaps that would
be enough. He wouldn't need to locate the remaining five.
Robotnik strode back to the Eggmobile. Time to investigate the ARK then. But before he got in, he noticed something on the side of the craft. Leaning down, he removed it for inspection. It appeared to be some sort of homing device. Frowning, the Eggman tossed it to the floor and crushed it with his boot. Was someone trying to find his base? He had better put on maximum security measures before he left…
…and remembered.
"Find them before they escape!" came a yell from somewhere behind them.
"Shadow!" Maria gasped, equally short of breath, "When we get there, go straight to the escape pod! I'll go for the controls!"
"No way!" Shadow panted. "I'm not leaving you behind!"
Maria shook her head. "You don't know how to activate the escape pod! There's no point both of us going to the access panel – that'd make us easier targets!"
Shadow grimaced. She was right. There was no other way. They ran into the main research lab, Shadow running towards the center of the room, and Maria for the computer console nearby. She tapped away at the keys franticly… she could set the timer for 30 seconds, that would give her enough time to cross the room and reach safety.
Shadow heard the footsteps before she did. "Hurry Maria!" he called,
all too late. A gunshot erupted from the corridor, and with a gasp, Maria
fell back across the computer console. "MARIA!!!" Shadow screamed, and
leapt forward to run to her aid… only to smash his face against the wall
of the glass capsule that came down, trapping him within. Stunned, he woozily
stood up and looked at his friend in horror, leaning against the console
weakly. "Shadow…" she croaked, knowing her time was not long. "Do it for
me… for all the people on those planet…"
"Maria…" Shadow called weakly, feeling sick to his stomach as he watched
his friend's eyes slowly flutter shut. That was the last thing he saw before
the capsule blasted into space.
"Sayonara… Shadow… the Hedgehog…" Maria whispered, then slumped to
the floor.
"This is spider troop F-6T Big Foot," reported the pilot to his colleagues.
"Suspect has been located, I'm preparing to intercept."
"Yeah?!? Well your preparation's taken too long!" Sonic yelled, attacking
the cockpit with a spindash. The pilot screamed and immediately lifted
off from the ground.
Bigfoot was almost identical to Hotshot, the machine that had been destroyed
the previous night, and Sonic was able to defeat this one even easier than
Shadow had his attacker. His battle went down almost the same as Shadow's,
however Bigfoot didn't have the laser attack that Hotshot did, so it went
down much quicker. Sonic became a blur as he rushed to the cockpit, and
pulled the pilot to safety before the missiles decimated the craft.
"You okay?" Sonic asked, pulling the man to his feet. The Overlander
didn't respond in words, but rather ran away, terrified of the powerful
hedgehog. Sonic was a little hurt but this, but he had to admit – watching
the frightened person run away was pretty funny. "Hey guy! Take care!"
Sonic grinned, waving at the departing human. He was about to make a run
for it – the guy would probably send backup, after all – when a thud behind
made him spin around. The sight astonished him. "What?!?" he asked to no-one
in particular, amazed.
A black hedgehog stood on the ruined Bigfoot, holding his arm up to
admire the green gemstone it held. "It all starts with this," he declared.
"A jewel containing the ultimate power!"
Sonic recognised the jewel instantly. "That's the… Chaos Emerald!"
he realized, anger coming over him. "Now I know what's going on! The military's
mistaken me for the likes of you! So! Where do you think you're going with
that emerald?"
The black hedgehog regarded him coldly and silently as Sonic ran at
him. "Say something!" he yelled. "You fake hedgehog!"
'Well, since you asked so nicely…' thought the black hedgehog, throwing
the Chaos Emerald into the air and yelling, "Chaos… CONTROL!!!"
Catching the Chaos Emerald as it came back down, the hedgehog smirked
as green rays of light emitted from the jewel, and then suddenly, he was
gone! Faster than Sonic himself had thought physically possible, the dark
thief flashed past him, reappearing on a nearby rooftop. Sonic turned around
and stared at him, wide eyed. "Wow! He's fast!" Sonic gaped. "Hey… it's
not his speed!" he realized. "He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp!"
"My name is Shadow! I am the world's ultimate life form!" he bragged.
"There's no time for games – farewell!"
And in a flash of green light, Shadow was gone. Sonic winced and put
his hand up to shield his eyes, failing to notice the approaching sirens.
"Shadow! What is he?" Sonic asked himself, then found searchlights trained
on him.
"DON'T MOVE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE! WE HAVE YOU COMPLETELY SURROUNDED!!!"
came a voice, amplified by a megaphone.
Sonic looked around. In all directions, all he could see were cop cars,
G.U.N. robots, and policemen, all with weapons trained upon him. "Not again!"
the hedgehog groaned.
Her homing device had been destroyed, she assumed, because it had stopped transmitting about forty-five minutes beforehand. That mattered little to the treasure hunter though. It had done its job, the job she had given it when she quietly attached it the Eggmobile whilst the doctor had been gloating and Knuckles attacked him. And now here she stood, in the Egg Quarters. She looked to her right, where a large pair of doors sat, with the Eggman logo stamped across them. A large keyhole was in the middle of the nose in the logo. This door was locked. "I hate to say it…" Rouge sighed, "But I guess I'll have to find that key first."
Her thoughts were interrupted by a rush of air as a large, beetle-like robot hovered into the room. Rouge stared at it for a moment in wonder, then decided she'd be better off hiding, and ducked behind a pillar. Not quite fast enough though. Red lights blazed all over the room, and lasers started firing from smaller beetlebots, which swarmed into the room. Rouge yelped and made a run for it.
**Chapter 5 – I'm plotting my schemes, wherever I go**
Rouge dived through the doorway as the door slammed shut behind her. Groaning slightly she rose, and examined herself for injuries. A small bump on her head, a nick on her arm, and a bruise on her knee. Nothing major. Rouge sighed and ran a hand through her hair. At least she was where she wanted to be – in the main control room. Looking around, a panel on the floor caught her attention. "It's a space transporter!" she exclaimed, moving to the computer to investigate. "The destination has been set to…" she muttered, tapping at the keys. "…ARK?" A look of confusion spread across Rouge's face. "Wasn't that Space Colony shut down over 50 years ago? What's Eggman doing up there anyway?" Rouge looked at the screen, as if expecting answers. Shrugging, she pushed a button and stepped backwards onto the pad. "Doesn't matter. It's my mission to find out what!" she said as the purple teleportation beams surrounded her.
"I've been waiting for you, doctor," Shadow nodded, regarding him. "Now see what the world's leading scientist Professor Gerald has created!" Shadow turned and stepped forward to the center of the room. The control room was positioned over a wide abyss. Robotnik peered over the edge and immediately became dizzy – the bottom was unable to be seen by the human eye. Shadow stood in front of a tower that supposedly reached the bottom, which sat behind a small computer mainframe. Robotnik noticed that there were seven slots in the tower, under the glass cover.
"The ARK was the leading space colony of its time. But many people didn't
realize that in its research labs, weapons of mass destruction were being
created," Shadow explained, indicating the tower. "This is one of them
- a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, codenamed: The Eclipse
Cannon."
Robotnik stared up at the tower in awe. "Destroying an entire planet…
was this my granfather's legacy?" he wondered.
Shadow pushed a button, and the glass cover over the tower's front
slid aside, exposing the slots to him. "However, it has been deactivated
for some time now," Shadow informed Robotnik, now lying through his teeth.
He reeled back his arm and tossed the green Chaos Emerald he had stolen
into one of the slots, causing the room to glow with a green aura for a
minute. The jewel was a perfect fit. "To reactivate it, large amounts of
energy are necessary."
Robotnik nodded with new understanding. "So that's why we needed the
Chaos Emerald!"
Shadow nodded excitedly. This man was quite intelligent. Just not intelligent
enough. But he kept those thoughts to himself. "Exactly!" he exclaimed.
"To gain total power, we need the seven Chaos Emeralds! Once you have that,
then you have the ultimate weapon of destruction, to use as you please.
And then…" Shadow brought his piercing gaze to meet Robotnik's. "The world
could be yours!"
Robotnik chuckled in glee. Everything was falling into place so well!
"Sounds like a plan!" he laughed. "I'll go back to Earth, retrieve the
remaining emeralds, and build a legacy of my own!"
A disbelieving voice came from the roof of the room. "Do you really
think it'll be that easy?" it asked. Shadow and Robotnik looked up to see
a busty, white furred female bat hanging from the ceiling. She somersaulted
to right herself, and hovered in front of them, wings flapping calmly.
"I've got a great idea! Why don't we make a deal?" she asked.
"A deal?" Robotnik was intrigued. Who was this bat girl that had barged
in on their planning? "What kind of deal?" he asked.
"When you stole that huge emerald, you said something about a reaction
– a reaction your computers had with the Master Emerald!" she smiled sweetly.
"Now, if I could just borrow that radar…"
Robotnik didn't trust her an inch. "If I do, what's in it for me?"
he asked.
The girl grinned now. She knew she had what the doctor wanted. "I have
an idea where the other Chaos Emeralds might be. I may not look like it,
but do you know that I'm a treasure hunter that specializes in all kinds
of jewels?" she asked, pulling out from her backpack a Chaos Emerald that
shone with a navy blue glow. The backpack also held the Master Emerald
shards that she'd found in Dry Lagoon.
Robotnik's eyes widened as he looked at the gemstone. He wanted it.
His eyes wandered questionably to Shadow, silently asking his opinion.
Shadow nodded. The hedgehog wanted that Chaos Emerald too.
"Very well," Robotnik announced, nodding his head.
"Okay then, it's a deal!" The bat was all smiles now. They'd fell for
it – hook, line and sinker! "I don't think we've been introduced – I'm
Rouge the Bat! But you can call me Rouge…"
"How can you be sure your intelligence reports are correct? Why would the emeralds be here?" he demanded.
Rouge just shrugged his words off. "Well, believe what you want to believe," was her answer.
Robotnik sighed. He didn't trust this one yet, but he knew that she was the only lead that they heard right now. "Very well," he said. "Very well. Let's discuss how we shall do this. I shall go in first and distract the military. Then," he briefed, holding up a small explosive charge to demonstrate, "Shadow will head into the armory where he will set the timers on these dynamite packs. We'll blow up the whole island and get away before anyone knows what hit them!"
Shadow obviously liked this idea – he smiled evilly as he took the explosives.
"Meanwhile," the doctor continued, turning to Rouge, "You will have to sneak into the Security Hall and find the Chaos Emeralds. Quite a worthy challenge for a treasure hunter as yourself, isn't it, bat girl?" he smirked.
Rouge just grinned and gave a confident salute.
"We only have thirty minutes to pull this off," Robotnik announced. "And we only get one try, so don't fail me!"
Shadow and Rouge both nodded, and the Eggman was satisfied. He piloted the Eggmobile towards the aircraft carriers, Shadow and Rouge right behind him.
It was fortunate that Tails looked down at the closest ship to the island, because otherwise the events that occurred during that day, and the next, might not have happened. Tails didn't think of it as luck at the time though. As it was, he felt his stomach wrench in disgust as he saw a pink hedgehog in a red dress being chased by an Overlander with a bushy moustache, in a hovercraft on legs. He knew both of those figures, and he wasn't particularly happy to see either of them there. What were they doing here? 'Oh well,' he thought to himself. 'Time to kick some butt!' "Tornado transformation!" he yelled excitedly, pushing a big blue button on the dashboard.
The girl seemed to appear out of nowhere. She pounced on Shadow and
threw her arms around him, squealing in delight. "Oh Sonic!" she cried.
"I thought I'd never see you again! I'm so glad you made it!"
Shadow blinked in surprise. He had never been hugged by anyone before.
What was this creature doing? He turned his head to get a better look at
her. It was a pink hedgehog, wearing a bright red dress, and a red headband
in her hair. Her shoes were also red, with a white stripe running down
them. Amy Rose stared up at Shadow in surprise.
"You're not Sonic!" she exclaimed, beginning to look peeved. "Who are
you?" she asked angrily. How dare this hedgehog impersonate her brave and
bold hero?!?
"I'm the one who should be asking that!" came a familiar voice from
above, in the vehicle that was standing next to them. Amy looked up and
screamed. "Eggman?!? AHHHH!!!" The girl knew she was in trouble – she turned
on her heels and ran for it.
"Ahh, Amy!" Eggman recognised the girl, now that he'd gotten a good
look at her when she ran from Shadow. "Her timing is perfect!" She had,
as usual, jumped right into her clutches. She was practically a professional
hostage, the Eggman had abducted her so many times! "You two go ahead,"
he told his companions as he strode off in pursuit of the foolish young
hedgehog. "I'll take care of this!"
Shadow and Rouge exchanged confused glances, shrugged, then parted
ways.
Robotnik easily caught up to Amy, who soon found herself caught between
the Eggmobile and the edge of the ship. "Give up Amy!" he smirked evilly.
Amy was just about to turn and dive into the ocean when something fell
out of the sky and landed with a clank in front of her. It looked a little
like Tails' Tornado 2 – it boasted the same bright blue and orange paintwork
– yet its shape was different. However her heart leapt in relief when she
saw Tails in the pilot's seat. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" she called,
grinning widely. Whatever that machine was, she could see that it was heavily
armed – now Eggman would get it!
"Stand back, Amy!" Tails yelled, then turned to face his opponent.
"Eggman! You won't get away with this!" he yelled at the doctor, ready
for action.
Robotnik glared at him, finally finishing his inspection of the fox's
new toy. "You think you can defeat me?!? Haw! Show me what you got!" the
Overlander dared him.
The fox did so, locking in to the craft with his sight, and firing
the laser blaster. He had defeated the Egg Walker back in Station Square
with no more then a few scratches, and the evil doctor no longer intimidated
him as much as he used to. Robotnik saw the danger though, and fired his
own laser blast that stopped Tails' shot, then counter-attacked with another
shot. Tails blocked his in a similar fashion, and started moving to the
left, trying to get around the Eggmobile. Robotnik retaliated by turning
to his left also, and firing again. This went on for several minutes –
the two machines circled each other, ducking and dodging, firing and blocking.
It occurred to them at about the same time that they were getting nowhere
with this, but Tails was the first one to do something about it. Swiveling
his bazooka around, he fired at the Eggmobile before his rival had a chance
to do the same, and cheered victoriously as several new holes appeared
in it. Robotnik backed away quickly, suddenly feeling a sense of danger.
'The Egg Walker!' he silently reminded himself. 'Don't forget what happened
in Station Square!' The Eggmobile was too valuable to him right now for
him to lose. Glaring menacingly at Tails, he turned the ship away, but
faced him as he retreated. "This time I'll let you go," he growled. "But
next time, you won't be so lucky!" And then he was gone.
"Wow Tails!" Amy exclaimed, bouncing forward to stand beside the Cyclone.
"You did it!" She was well and truly impressed by the fight Tails had put
up. "But what are you doing here on this island?" she asked. Could he have
come here for the same reason she had?
"I'm the one who should be asking that!" Tails answered, concerned.
"Don't you know it's dangerous here?" She should, after what had just happened.
Amy nodded. "I know, but I'm here to save my hero, Sonic!" A starry
gaze entered her eyes as she thought about the heroic hedgehog that had
saved her so many times before.
Tails had expected as much, but he still rolled his eyes and moaned,
"Again?!?"
Amy brought herself back to reality. Eggman was here, and that meant
bad news for all of them. "Hurry Tails!" she cried. "I know Eggman's up
to no good again!"
Tails nodded. He may have sent he doctor packing, but he still had
a job to do. "Okay Amy! Wait here, I'll be back soon!" he called, piloting
the Cyclone towards the island.
Amy looked around nervously. The courage she had felt when she first
arrived was quickly disappearing. He didn't like the idea of being left
alone any more. "Tails, wait up!" she wailed, running after him. "I wanna
help Sonic too!"
**Chapter 6 – Hurry through, the island's calling**
Rouge looked around the Security Hall from the platform she stood on,
as the voices came over her wrist communicator.
"Doctor, I'm in place," Shadow reported. "Should I start the countdown?"
"There's been an unexpected delay on my end," came the reply. "There's
no more time to waste! Set the timer for fifteen minutes! Let's go Rouge!"
Rouge smiled confidently. She was sure she could find the three emeralds
that were here in less than five minutes. "Here I go!" she said into her
glove, then jumped to the floor and looked at her radar. The nearest emerald
was to her left, it seemed. She turned her head in that direction, and
located it without difficulty. There were two large fans situated over
a deep pit. The red Chaos Emerald had been left carelessly hovering just
above the fan. She glided over to grab it, but was instantly shot into
the air by a blast of hot air. She squealed in surprise and glided to the
nearby ledge. Maybe it hadn't been so careless after all. It would be hard
too reach… but not impossible. She jumped and glided again until she was
directly above the emerald, then performed her drill drive attack, spinning
down quickly through the air. Her force was more powerful than that of
the fan, so she was able to quite easily grab the emerald before being
blasted into the air again.
Once more she glided to the ledge, then put the emerald in her pack and checked her radar again. The second emerald was nearby, but judging by its position it appeared to be in a safe. The safe alarms were active on this level at the moment, she would have to turn them off before she could crack it. The remaining emerald was on the top floor. Rouge glided to the opposite wall, climbed up to a balcony, then grabbed a pulley handle that reeled her up there. Sure enough, the purple Chaos Emerald was in plain sight. It sat in between two rows of large crates filled with junk, but was guarded by a complex series of lasers. And a hovering G.U.N. robot too. Hmmm. Rouge wondered if the lasers would trigger alarms, or burn her. To find out, she picked up a small stone at her feet, and tossed it right into one of the beams. It sizzled and hit the ground, a charred black pebble now. Rouge frowned. Barbecued bat was not her idea of a good time. She studied the lasers thoughtfully. The ones nearest to her were positioned so that they ran between the rows, and moved backwards and forwards. The next set moved up and down. The third set remained motionless, but was probably the trickiest of all because they ran in a diagonal fashion. Rouge made a few quick calculations, then ran forward. One… two… three backflips, and she found herself directly underneath the emerald. The robot never stood a chance – one of her kicks had sent it straight into the lasers. 'Now what though?' Rouge wondered. The emerald was floating above her, held in midair by a small hovering device. It was too high for her to reach with a regular jump, and the lasers would make quite a mess of her if she was to attempt climbing the boxes. The answer was her screw kick. Rouge kicked off the ground, spinning in a circle again, and grabbed the emerald when she reached maximum height. "Only one more left!" she exclaimed with satisfaction, placing the jewel in her pack.
Rouge looked around and saw a switch that was colour coded red nearby. She'd earlier noticed that the safes of each floor were different colours – the top floor was blue, second floor yellow, and the bottom floor red. Maybe that switch deactivated the alarms for that floor? She made her way out of the lasers and then ran to it and flicked it off. That should do it. Running for the hole in the floor, she descended back to the ground level and made for the safe. She stopped before she got there though – a large weight trap was set in front of it. It continuously rose, then slammed into the ground, rose, then slammed into the ground. She would have to turn it off too, unless she wanted to become a bat pancake. Looking around, she saw a switch attached to the roof, of all places! That had to be it. But how was she to get there? It was in the center of the roof, so gliding from the walls wouldn't work – she'd lose too much height by the time she got there. There was no obvious way to reach it… but there had to be some way! Maybe the answer was hidden. She reached for the device attached to her head, and pushed the button. A green visor-like lens slid into place in front of her eyes. Her treasure scope had the same properties as Knuckles' sunglasses (although she didn't know that) – hidden objects became visible. Scanning the room again, she saw what she was after – a large red spring sat on the balcony just above her. Bingo. She climbed up to it, and let herself be shot into the air. Before she fell back down, she reached up, grabbed the switch, and gave it a sharp tug. The weight froze in midair, deactivated. Perfect! Rouge glided down to the safe, and studied it. The combination lock was in the center of it. Not a problem. She burrowed into it with the sharp pick nails on her gloves, and the door quickly slid open, revealing the remaining Chaos Emerald, which had a sky blue glow. Perfect! She placed the emerald in her backpack, then turned to leave…
Only to see the safe door slam shut in front of her, and lock itself. Uh-oh.
"Got a slight problem here…" came the voice of Rouge. Shadow could practically see her kicking herself in frustration. "I can't believe I'm trapped inside this safe with the Chaos Emeralds!" She sighed. "I guess I won't be able to call myself a hunter any more…"
Shadow looked down at his watch, indifferent. Ten minutes until detonation. He could care less, really. He'd never trusted the bat girl from the start. Good riddance. 'But… wait a minute…' A memory flashed into his head. He saw Maria, leaning against the computer in the ARK's research lab, struggling to hold on. Her eyes were fluttering shut… Maria. He had made a promise to her. It had been her dying wish! He couldn't let her down! "Ehhhh…" he grunted, thinking of how annoying it would be to have to run to Rouge's aid. "Troublemaker!" he yelled into the air, then skated down the hill towards the path that would lead him to the Security Hall.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone jump down in front
of his cell. Sonic turned, and to his surprise saw a smiling… "Wha? Amy?!?"
Amy's finger went to her lips. "Sssh! Keep your voice down!" she whispered,
then spun around in a circle, quite happy that she'd gotten Sonic's attention.
She was going to milk it for all it was worth. "Have no fear! Amy Rose
is here!"
Oh no. Not Amy! Anyone but Amy! Let Tails save him! Or Knuckles! Antoine
even! But why AMY?!? Oh, fate was cruel to him…
"How'd you get here?" he simply asked, throwing his hands up in the
air and turning away, frustrated.
Amy grinned from ear to ear as she held up a security card. "Well,
if you gotta know, I caught a ride with Tails! Are you sure you don't nee
my help?" she asked, teasingly. "It looks like you could use iiiiiiiit!"
The blue one sighed. Well, at least Tails was here. Sonic changed the
subject. "The reason I'm in here is because of that fake hedgehog!" he
complained, jumping from foot to foot, the anger flaring up again.
Amy raised her eyebrows. The one she'd seen? "You mean… that black
hedgehog?" she asked, snapping her fingers and pointing at him. Sonic looked
up in surprise. "Did you see him?" he asked desperately. "Where is he now?!?"
"If I tell ya, will you marry me?" came the starstruck reply.
Sonic made a face. "No way!"
Amy pouted as she ran the card through the slot on the small computer
terminal on the wall. "I thought I had you this time!"
With a creak, the cell bars retracted into the roof, and Sonic gratefully
stepped into the corridor, jumping over the hole in the floor where the
door sat.
"That black hedgehog came here with Dr. Eggman!" Amy told him.
Sonic grunted. "So, Eggman's behind this, huh?" That made sense.
Amy turned to look at the cell. Someone had been busy – the walls were
covered in writing, done in white chalk. There were all sorts of calculations,
diagrams, and equations scrawled all over them. "What's all that writing
on the wall anyway?" she asked. "Did you do that?"
Sonic made no reply. Amy turned to see that she was alone again. "Wait
for me, Sonic!" she called, running down the corridor. "He's such a brat
sometimes…"
The pilot in the cockpit immediately started hovering as soon as he saw her. "This is R-1/R Flying Dog," he reported into the radio. "Intruder has broken into the storage center, I shall eliminate at all costs!" And with that, he flew towards Rouge. The bat rolled out of the craft's way and stood to study it. It looked pretty much like the Hotshot and Bigfoot machines that Shadow had briefed both her and Eggman on. So that meant that the cockpit was the weak spot… but how was she to reach it? The machine was flying too high! Not even a screw kick would get her up that far!
Flying Dog made another pass over her head, machine gun blazing. Rouge jumped clear of the shots, and clung to a railing at the side of the wall. An idea came to her. Whilst Flying Dog was soaring past and turning back around, she climbed up the railing, and when she had enough altitude, glided towards the machine. Flying Dog was turning around, and didn't see her until she was right on top of him. But by then it was too late – Rouge delivered a smashing blow by hitting the cockpit with her drill drive. Flying Dog was damaged, but not down. It went after her with everything it had – machine gun, missiles and laser blast. But Rouge managed to dodge them all successfully and after another four drill drives connected, Flying Dog went down. Rouge sighed in relief, then ran towards the exit. She found herself back in the main Security Hall. Knowing where she was now, Rouge turned towards the way she'd come in. A large steel door was in her way. She was still trapped.
Sonic's attention was drawn to a building that wasn't far below him. He might be able to drop down to it without killing himself… anything was better than being stuck to this thing until it blew itself into oblivion. Sonic bit his lip… and let go of the handle. The building came rocketing up towards him, fast. Far too fast. Sonic screamed in terror and curled himself up in a ball. Lucky for him, the ceiling was made of a very thin layer of metal, so Sonic plowed through it without injury. Opening his eyes, he saw himself skidding down through the building, sparks flying behind him. His feet were on a sheet of metal – he was boarding again! Sonic grinned to himself and maintained control, as he skidded down the side of the wall. Sonic plowed through a chute, shot out into the open air again, and landed at the edge of the island's forest. He stopped for a breather. That had been too fast, even for him. "So far, so good…" he panted, then turned as he heard something behind him. Another hedgehog had just landed on a nearby log, and saw Sonic at the same time he was seen.
"Hey, that's…" Sonic started.
"That blue hedgehog again of all places!" Shadow frowned.
"I found you, faker!" Sonic glared, pointing an accusing finger at
him.
"Faker?!?" Shadow repeated, incredulous. Who did this blue hedgehog
think he was anyway? "I think you're the fake hedgehog around here! You're
comparing yourself to me?!? Hah! You're not even good enough to be my fake!"
he goaded Sonic.
The anger in Sonic's eyes was quite obvious. "I'll make you eat those
words!" he yelled, leaping forward. Shadow leapt too, and landed behind
him. Sonic turned around to glare at him, face to face. He could see that
the black hedgehog wasn't carrying a Chaos Emerald this time around. A
surge of confidence ran through him. "You can't get away this time!" he
declared. "There's only one real Sonic!"
Shadow frowned. He didn't have time for this… he must show this upstart
hedgehog who was the boss, and quickly. As Shadow was going over these
thoughts Sonic jumped at him, using a homing attack. Shadow barely had
time to counter with his own homing attack. The two connected in mid air,
then were both knocked backwards. Neither of the hedgehogs suffered any
real injury, but their attacks were indeed powerful. Both Sonic and Shadow
fell to their knees, taking into account what the other was capable of.
"Not bad for an imposter," Shadow panted, getting to his feet. Sonic
jumped to his own, taking a better look at Shadow. Red eyes… upwardly pointed
spines, and now that yellow homing attack… those were things he had only
before seen in himself, and charged with the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds.
This guy sure had some power! Sonic nodded with new appreciation for his
opponent, rubbing his head. "That hurt…" he muttered, facing Shadow again.
Before either one of them could take another step toward the other,
their battle was interrupted. Shadow's walkie talkie had been knocked to
the ground, and a burst of static came from it. Then came the unmistakable
voice of the one that Sonic had come to loathe. 'Eggman!' he thought in
alarm. Shadow really WAS working for him!
"Shadow? What are you doing?!?" the doctor spluttered, barely audible
beneath the static. "Get back here right now before the island blows up
with you still on it!"
A look of panic came over Shadow's face as well as Sonic's. In the
heat of the battle, he had forgotten why he had even come this way…
"Blow up?!?" Sonic yelped, but his voice was wasted on the surrounding,
empty forest. Shadow was already skating through the trees, and disappeared
quickly. Sonic wanted to chase him… but… how long did he have? And what
about Tails and Amy? Sonic glared in the direction that Shadow had disappeared
in, then turned on his heels and ran. 'Next time…' he silently vowed.
Shadow finally caught sight of her waving and running towards him. "THE
EMERALDS!" he yelled, desperation setting in as he skated towards her.
Fool! Why had she had to go over to the opposite end of the Security Hall?!?
There was only a few seconds left! "WHERE ARE THE EMERALDS?!?"
Rouge looked at him in confusion as she ran towards him, but pulled
her pack around and fished out the light blue one. Shadow saw it and a
look of determination came across his face. It would do.
"CHAOS… CONTROL!" he hollered, running towards her now. Rouge stopped
running and looked down as the emerald started to glow. Blue rays started
to emit form it. "What the…?"
'No!' Shadow thought, panic setting in again. 5 seconds left… he'd
never make it in time!
4…
'I have to make physical contact with the emerald or else it won't
work!'
3…
Rouge ran forward again, not understanding, but realising something
was about to happen.
2…
Shadow leapt forward, arms outstretched.
1…
Shadow's index finger tagged the glowing jewel, and that was all it
took. The blue glow surrounded Shadow and Rouge…
**Chapter 7 – I am the Eggman**
Shadow stood at the window, staring out at the planet they orbited,
far, far, below. Maria stood beside him, doing the same. It was such a
glorious sight…
"Shadow?" Maria asked. "What do you think it's like on Mobius?"
Shadow continued to look at it, as if he could almost see the people
below, living out their everyday lives. "The Professor said that his life
was dedicated to all the people down there. He once said that his mission
was to make people happy, through the power of science…" Shadow frowned.
Where did he fit into all that then?
Maria picked up on his look of confusion. "Shadow…" she started.
Shadow just shook his head. "Maria, I just don't know any more. I often
wonder why I was created, what my purpose is. Maybe if I go down there,
I'll find the answers… maybe…"
Maria couldn't think of anything to say to that, so she just smiled
and stood beside her friend, as the stared down at the beauty that was
Mobius.
"Why so melancholy?" Rouge asked, walking up beside him and interrupting
his thoughts. Shadow looked over at her, then turned away. He really just
wanted to be alone with his thoughts right now. Rouge had things on her
mind though. "That was so unexpected… so unlike you Shadow, coming back
to rescue me like that…" she said softly. She owed her life to the black
hedgehog. She smiled. "But you ability to use the Chaos Control certainly
comes in handy!"
Shadow didn't look at her. He still didn't trust this bat girl. "You
know… I wasn't saving you," he replied. "I was saving the Chaos Emeralds."
Rouge grinned. As much as Shadow tried to hide it, there was a sense
of friendship, or at least a friendly business relationship between them.
She could tell. "Yeah, but that's not the whole story, is it?" she asked.
Dr. Robotnik strode into the room, clearing his throat. "Everything's
ready to go!" he announced, a large smile present on his face. His time
was finally approaching!
Rouge looked apprehensive though. "Are you sure?" she asked. "We only
have six of the seven Chaos Emeralds, you know."
Shadow shrugged it off. He had his own reasons for wanting the Chaos
Emeralds, and he wanted to see some destruction. "That's more than enough
for the demonstration!" he said, striding towards the door that would take
him to the control room. "So let's get this show on the road!"
"Citizens of Mobius, lend me your ears and listen very carefully!" he demanded. "My name is Dr. Robotnik, the world's greatest scientist, and soon to be it's greatest ruler! Behold the power of the Eggman Empire!"
Underneath the space colony ARK, a pale blue glow came. The spherical satellite of Mobius glowed brightly for a few minutes, then the bottom half crumbled apart, revealing the true underside of the colony. It was made to appear like a face – a face with a metal moustache. The nose of the face extended far downwards in a sharp point, like a massive needle sticking out of it. Silently, the nose split in the middle, four ways. Each portion of the nose slid aside to reveal an enormous cannon. Blue light extended from each of the fore parts, rays connecting them all, then traveling into the center. In a blaze of light, a laser of mass proportions shot out of the Eclipse Cannon, heading for Mobius. People all the world over winced and ducked, but need not have bothered – they were not in immediate danger. The beam passed through Mobius' atmosphere, not very far, then went back out again, through space, and struck the moon. A few cracks appeared, then there was an enormous, silent explosion, creating a new patch of asteroids. When the light faded, there was a gigantic crater sitting in the moon. The Eclipse Cannon had destroyed approximately a third of the land mass. The ground glowed with a red hot heat, but no smoke. There was no atmosphere for that, after all. People all over Mobius gazed at the night sky in horror, panicking over the destruction they had just been witness too. An evil cackling brought their attentions back to their screens. A countdown now filled it, decreasing from 24 hours. The Eggman logo was plastered in the background, as a reminder of the person responsible for the carnage. The person they all feared.
TO BE CONTINUED…