Sonic Adventure 2: A Retelling

by RustyRick

Sonic Adventure 2's story told in a fanfic manner and with alternate events.

Somewhere in the pacific ocean, a helicopter landed near a military base situated on a large island. Out of it came the apparent president of the united nations. Greeting him was a head of security. 'Ah, welcome, Mr. President. Please follow us.' 'Hmm, so this base has been reconstructed to demonstrate the tight security our military division has to offer?'

Though from a distance, there were small buzzbomb robots flying around spying on them and the environment. Monitoring them was a round man with sunglasses, smirking. 'Hmph! The government seriously thinks that their new sentry's and base will make me think twice about dominating the nation? They'll have to come up with more advanced designs to top me!' He then saw something glinster on one of the monitors. 'Hm? Wait! Get back, what is that?' He zoomed in and saw something lying in the dirt. 'Pick it up. Hmm...looks a floppy disk...take it back to the base!' The robot holding it in it's pincers retreated from the base unseen, and the doctor figured that it might contain some valuable information...

Arriving back at the base, Eggman greedily snatched the disk from the badnik. 'Okay, let's see...' He wiped the dirt off it, and putted it in the computer, booting it up. The first screen made him almost fall from his chair in surprise. 'What? 'Diary of Professor Gerald Robotnik'? It's my deceased grandfather's diary!' He searched through the various saved recordings, but most of them were pretty much unhearable due the disk being very damaged. He smashed the monitor in anger. 'Dang! Is there nothing on this disk that still works? Hm? Project Shadow? Let's see... come on, work!' He listened closely to the audio recording.

'December 2, the President requests me with development of new advanced weapons to enhance the nation's safety...bbrrrzzzz. December 15, what if the government would find out about his existence? They'd want to exploit and use him as a weapon..-I must reach Shadow…I have plans with him…I must modify the password of the pod to awaken him. Maria...'

The doctor let a wide grin form from his mouth. 'Project Shadow...if it's a weapon so dangerous that the military had to seal it away...heheheh...Time to pay a visit and test it's security for myself tonight!'

Later that night, at the same military base, most of the personnel had gone home and most of the patrol was handled by their new robot models. They didn't notice a certain vehicle slowly fly by until it stopped behind a large set of crates, and a large round figure stepped out, picking up a gas canister. 'If what my scans of this place show was correct, this should be the ventilation shaft...' a devious light shined from his glasses as he released it into the vent.

'Hmm...quiet night, today.' One of the guards commented as he sipped on his coffee overlooking the monitors. His coworker on the right working on filing documents on a computer nodded, but suddenly his eyelids closed slowly, the chief not noticing it, until he heard a thud on the desk. 'Huh? Hey! Wake up!' He saw his coworker fell asleep, and tried to shake him slightly to wake him up, until he sniffed something suspicious. 'What? Ahhh...slee-gazzzzzzz...' He fell asleep too.

'That should do it.' Eggman commented as he shut off the canister. 'Now, to activate this little gadget here...' He pressed a device on his Eggmobile and it send out a jamming signal preventing camera's from working. 'As for the robots...' he pressed a big red button on his transportation vehicle and out of it emerged two legs for walking, and various firearms concealed within it, called the Egg Walker. 'I'll just get rid of them!'

'Emergency! Emergency! Intruder breached level 4! Stop him!' The automatic alarm voice sounded throughout the facility, and the only ones capable of responding were the various sentry robots posted, although they all went down in a blazing mixture of smoke and fire. 'Hmph, pathetic third-rate material!' Eggman gloated as he blasted his way through. Eventually, he encountered a big large door in a dark corridor, and read the labels on it. 'PROJECT SHADOW. NO ENTRY ALLOWED!' 'Bingo!'

He overrided the door's scanning password, and entered inside, the room being very small, and not lit. The doctor used a in-built front light of his mech and looked around, until he saw a giant hole in the distance, with a small computer in front of it. Approaching it, his face turned a bit sour as he looked into the pit, apparently some sort of statis pod with a faint light coming out of the center. '...This is the secret weapon? Looks a bit...small...oh well, don't judge a book by it's cover, they say!' He stepped out briefly and activated the interface on the computer, reading a input code. Eggman scratched his chin. 'Ah, the password...what did my grandfather mention again? Ah...was this it?' He inputted the highlighted key buttons. 'M, A, R, I, A...Maria!' He smiled as he saw the password was correct, but at the same time a thought crossed his mind. 'Maria...it sounds a bit familiar...I guess I'll look into it later!'

Stepping back in his mech, the doctor's expression and grin grew more devious as the statis pod raised from the pit until it was done, it being high above what Eggman could see with his light, and it opened with smoke coming out. Though the doctor's grin turned downwards when he saw a familiar silhouette from the smoke emerging. 'S-Sonic?' He began to yell at it with a loud voice echoing from the whole room. 'Sonic, you blasted...IS THIS ALL A TRICK?' Although what he first thought was Sonic soon turned out to be wrong as he highlighted the silhouette with his front light, and saw a black hedgehog, totally not resembling Sonic in any way, looking at him silently. 'W-wait...you're not Sonic! Who in the world are you?'

The creature replied in a almost cold tone. 'Shadow.'

It just stood there in a awkward silence until a alarm went off, and the doctor almost fell out of his mech. 'Gah! What the-' He managed to blurt out before something loud thudded on the floor. 'Intruder detected! Preparing to neutralize threat!'

Apparently a mech managed to enter the facility despite the security being gassed unconscious. The doctor quickly prepared for battle. 'Hmph, I'll show you to not me-huh?'

In a flash the black creature dashed forward using it's shoes as some sort of propulsion system, and it got the attention of the pilot of the mech. 'Huh? What was that? Is it Proj-GAH!'

A kick out of nowhere shattered the glass of the dome, and the pilot shrieked in surprise. 'Emergency! Requesting backup! Hello? Come in!' The creature wasted no time in curling up to a ball-like form and dashed through the mech, demolishing it's circuits and it fell on the ground, the pilot hitter the ground and rolled a few times before he could see clearly, and he saw a pair of red eyes looking at him. 'Wh-wha-Ack!' He was knocked unconscious with a single kick to his face.

'That…that was spectacular!' The doctor shouted out as his glasses almost fell off his face from amazement. 'Shadow…that was your name, right? Are you really that same 'Project Shadow' that was described in my grandfather's diary?'

Shadow walked towards him and stopped at a angle where the doctor could see a clear shot of him in the light. 'Your grandfather?…tell me…what is your grandfather's name?'

'Gerald Robotnik! He was your creator, correct?' Eggman pointed at him. Shadow smirked. 'Yes, he created me. So you're his grandchild? Very well.' Shadow arched his head to the side. 'I have a proportion for you…what is your name?'

'Dr. Eggman! Genius scientist and future ruler of the world!' He proudly exclaimed patting himself on the chest.

'You aim to rule the world? Then my proposition might interest you.'

'Propostion?' Eggman came closer curious to hear more.

'Yes, as a payment for freeing me.' Shadow explained his motive before the doctor, but he quickly turned his head away and started to move towards the exit. 'However I can't explain it here…what if the military might eavesdrop?'

'Good point…Shadow, where are you going?' Eggman tried to follow him, but the black hedgehog just dashed towards the dark hallway out of the room, leaving behind the words: 'Go to the abandoned space colony ARK tomorrow evening, along with the Chaos Emerald. I'll explain further when you reach it.' And disappeared in a flash.

Eggman was just baffled by what he said. 'ARK?' But he soon followed after him with grabbing the Chaos Emerald out of the console, not wanting to remain any longer than needed in enemy territory.

However, Shadow remained in the base, and quickly moved towards a cell, carefully removing a block and found a small chip. 'Got it.' And just as quickly went away.

Some time later, during midnight, the doctor managed to get back in his secret base, and was wondering about the words Shadow said before he departed. 'ARK…let me look it up…' typing in his database of locations known to the public, he soon got information about the subject. 'Ah-ha! a abandoned space colony…said to have been shut down due to a incident…' He began to twirl his chair around. 'Hmm, if Shadow wants to meet up with me there, there's got to be more to it…' Taking a quick look at the Chaos Emerald he used to free Shadow out of his capsule, he smirked. 'More Chaos Emeralds? I think I'll get something better than that!'

The next morning came quickly, and the authorities were informed of what happened on Prison Island. One of the chief heads of government security arrived at the scene, and was quickly brought to where their most top secret weapon was formerly kept.

'I understand this is a grave situation with the secret weapon being stolen, but I cannot overlook the fact either that our president was never informed of this matter either. What reason was there to conceal such a weapon from our government's eyes?' The head glared to one of the officials of GUN.

'I apologize, but we truly have no idea. We were instructed from back in our training days by our superiors to never open this gate, because Project Shadow was so dangerous that even checking it out might have been lethal.' He responded.

'I see…and where are those instructors now?' The head inclined to dig deeper in this mystery. 'I regret to report this, but it's been more than 40 years now since this weapon was being kept in this base, and to the best of my knowledge, our superiors from around that time are most likely either dead or incredibly old and senile. I doubt they could shed further light on this mystery.'

'That's a problem…and what about the pilot of the mech that was called in at the last time to deal with the intruder, and the surveillance camera's?'

'Sir, the pilot just woke up in our hospital beds, and claims to only have seen red eyes in the darkness, nothing more. And our camera's were all malfunctioning along with the security staff being unconscious, so we have no clues on who the intruder, or what the weapon might have been.'

The head of security turned his head in disappointment, and commented. 'That still won't give us any leads…still, thanks for your cooperation and your time. I'll see to it that our best agents are on this case immediately and act in discretion regarding this matter. As for the Island's security, we'll send funds for reinforcements soon.'

Meanwhile, in Station Square, a certain blue hedgehog was relaxing on one of the skyscrapers, the morning rays of the sun waking him up as he let out a big yawn. 'Aaah, that was a good nap.' He stood up and stretched his legs, before he jumped off the roof and timed his jumps to make it back to the ground. 'Time for a morning sprint!'

At the same time, a pink hedgehog noticed him from a hotel window, and she smiled. 'Ah, Sonic…' Though her mind snapped back to what she was doing. Amy Rose was working as a cleaner at one of the hotels in Station Square to earn some money, and could stay freely at it as a extra bonus. 'When I have earned enough rings, I'll be sure to ask Sonic out for a nice date.' She thought before she continued with vacuuming the room.

The rest of the morning went by as usual to everyone, even on a certain big floating island somewhere in the ocean, known to the few visitors who ever stepped foot on it as Angel Island. In the middle of the island, a certain red echidna was sleeping with his back against the Master Emerald, until he felt something touching him. 'Whu…what?' He opened his eyes slowly, and quickly became angry when he saw somebody was moving his around, and punched the person off him.

'Who are you? Are you trying to steal the Master Emerald?' He got in a fighting stance as he took a good look at the person he punched who got up and turned hostile. 'A bat girl?'

'Hmph, I was going to just move your sleepy body off that beautiful gem and then make off with it, but seeing as that didn't work, I guess it just has to be the hard way then and knock you unconscious!' She said before she flapped her wings and flew straight at Knuckles aiming to hit him with a kick.

'You picked the wrong person to mess around with!' He dodged by rolling aside. 'And besides, you don't know what this is, do you? This gem contains great power, far beyond your understanding, girl!'

'That doesn't concern me. It's a gigantic jewel, and I will have it!' The two charged at each other and got in a fierce fight dodging each other's attacks, until all of a sudden, the Master Emerald was lifted into the sky by a metal claw. Hearing the noise, the two stopped fighting and looked at what happened. Knuckles wasn't surprised by what he saw. 'Eggman!' The bat girl also looked at the same direction, whispering to herself. 'So that's Dr. Eggman...'

It was indeed the villainous genius who lifted the Master Emerald off it's pedestal. 'Gah! Can't believe I was spotted by that knucklehead! I gotta get out of here quickly!' He tried to move away with the Master Emerald in tow, but it's weight slowed his vehicle down, and Knuckles picked up a rock from the ground, and shouted: 'Not so fast! Ha!' He threw the rock with high speed using his strength, intending to aim it at Eggman, but his aim was off and it hit the Master Emerald instead, shattered the giant gem in pieces, which flew in all directions at high speed in a flash. 'Nooo!' Knuckles and Eggman both screamed as the latter barely managed to hold on to his Eggmobile and climbed back in it's seat. 'Darn it, you blasted echidna!' The doctor shouted before he retreated.

'Darn…but at least it's safe from the wrong hands. Gah!' He was grabbed by the chest and the girl shouted loudly: 'No! Look at what you've done! That precious gem, shattered in pieces!' Knuckles easily wrestled himself free. 'Let go of me you bat! If it's in pieces, I can simply collect them and restore it! And you better get away now before I-' He was interrupted as the island began to fall. 'Grrr…' He grabbed ahold of the ground as he prepared for impact, but the bat girl took flight. 'Thanks for the information, boy. I'd love to hear more, but I have errands to run!'

The echidna grumbled as he saw her fly off in the distance, and not a few seconds later, and he felt the island land in the ocean with a giant impact it created a small tidal wave that thankfully subdued quickly due to there being nothing but ocean as far as he could see. 'Grr…I've got to find one of the pieces, then the rest will follow by itself.' He began to search his island for one instantly.

'That blasted fool…now I have to bring that one Emerald to the ARK…' Eggman mumbled still disgusted about what happened. 'Hm?' He thought he heard something flapping, and looked around his Eggmobile briefly, thinking he was being followed. '…Must be imagining things…' he proceeded onwards, and was unaware that the same bat girl from before placed something under his vehicle and hided until he moved on. 'That was close…Rouge to HQ. I've found Dr. Eggman and placed a transmitter on his vehicle. Proceeding to pursuit him. Oh, new orders? Return to base? Very well…' She sighed and took off in another direction.

Later, during the evening, something unexpected would happen.

After the security staff of the Federal Reserve Bank closed the entrance, and activated the alarm, there was someone standing on the rooftops.

'What?' One of the patrolling guards shined their flashlights at the roof. 'Hm? Something wrong?' Inquired one of the other guards. 'No…I must be imagining things.' And they resumed their patrol.

'Musn't get careless…' The black hedgehog thought as he used his powers to create a small lightning-like sharp object, and cut a part the glass of the middle section of the roof to remove it and drop himself into when no one was looking, and used his jet shoes to land on the ground without making noise. But much to his surprise, one he stepped foot towards the safe, the alarm went off as he apparently stepped in a laser. 'Darn!' He quickly went to strike the unlock mechanism of the safe.

Mere seconds later, guards equipped with stun guns and backup tasers arrived at the darkened hallway and they saw the hedgehog creature dash towards them, and they blocked the way. 'Halt! Put down that Chaos Emerald and show your hands empty-handed and in the air!' The hedgehog simply smirked and dashed up the wall evading the gunfire and used what was left of his energy in the shoes to propel himself through the opening in the roof.'

'Alarm the chief, and pursuit that hedgehog!' one of them radio'd over the walkie-talkie.

Only a few minutes later, the chief of the Federal Reserve Bank arrived at the scene, swallowing the last piece of his sandwich as he was called off home to inspect the scene immediately. 'What happened here?'

'Someone broke in the vault and stole the green Chaos Emerald that we stored in here in order to prevent terrorists from misusing it!' One of the guards reported.

'And still it was stolen…did you manage to get a good shot of the criminal?' No, sir, it was too dark to clearly identify who it was…but it looked like a hedgehog…' The chief raised a eyebrow. 'A hedgehog? Let's check the security camera's to make sure. '

As they replayed the recordings of the break-in, they couldn't see the figure clearly, but the chief has his suspicions. 'Stop! Pause at that shot!'

'Do you see something, sir?' One of the guards questioned.

'That shape…that hairstyle…it might sound crazy…but I swear that figure looks like Sonic the Hedgehog!'

'Sonic the Hedgehog? Now that you mention it, it does resemble him somewhat…but sir, are you sure? I mean, Sonic has been recognized as a hero for a long time, especially with that liquid monster incident. I can't imagine that he would try and break in the bank.'

'We can't look away from reality.' The chief inclined. 'Even if I'm possibly wrong, the figure does resemble Sonic, so he's as good a suspect as any other being that resembles him! And didn't he speed off evading the gunfire either? I've never heard of any other hedgehog that could be as fast as Sonic!'

'Yes sir…what are your orders?' The guard remained stern despite his inner disbelief.

'Track down Sonic's location and arrest him, request backup from GUN if necessary. We'll question his whereabouts this evening and his possible motives if he truly did it!'

Not too much later, Sonic was actually eating something at a fast food stand, enjoying a chili dog. 'Sonic!' He nearly choked from surprise hearing from who that voice was, and became nervous the instant he saw who it was. 'Oh, uh, hi Amy…' the hedgehog swallowed and turned his rotatable chair around, thinking it would be best to just hear out what she was going to say to him, but knowing her, he full well know the answer to that question.

'Do you have anything to do on thursday, 3 days from now? I was planning to ask you out for a movie and dinner for that night! There's a speedy action movie that might interest you!' She smiled at him, hoping in her heart that he would accept her offer. Sonic actually gave that a thought. 'Wow…Amy really wants to have a nice night out with me, huh? That movie does sound tempting…'

'Well, I don't have anything in my life going on right now besides just running around enjoying the scenery and such, so-'

'There he is!' A loud voice called, which caught Sonic's attention, and he saw several paramilitary types approaching him rather quickly.

'Huh? Eh, can I help you with something, guys?' The hedgehog casually said, thinking they were chasing another person and was wondering if he could help, but both he and Amy were shocked to see that the men were pointing stun guns at him. 'Sonic the Hedgehog, you're suspected of a serious crime, and we request you to quietly come along for interrogation!' 'What?' Amy yelled with her eyes widening.

'Amy, it's alright.' Sonic casually motioned to the girl wanting her to calm down. 'Alright, what am I suspected of doing?'

'We don't have permission to reveal that in public yet.' One of the men replied. 'Again, please come along for interrogation and we'll explain the situation underway.'

The hedgehog sighed and jumped from the chair. 'Alright, I get it.' He was about to come along when Amy took his shoulder. 'No! Sonic, don't!' He gently put her hand away and smiled. 'I'm sure it's just some misunderstanding, I'll be back in a flash!' 'Okay then…' Amy trusted his word, and watched him being taken away, but deep down she still felt unsure of the situation…

A few minutes later, Sonic was sitting in a helicopter seat as it took off. The hedgehog relaxed on it as he inquired. 'Alright, I came along, now explain to me as to what I'm suspected of doing.'

'You've been accused of stealing the green Chaos Emerald from the Federal Reserve Bank.' The guard explained.

'What? You gotta be kidding me! If I wanted that Emerald, I would have just asked for it at that bank. You guys should know me better than that.' Sonic frowned.

'We have recorded proof of someone with your figure and speed stealing it, so it must most likely be you. I've never heard of other hedgehogs who were as fast like you are.'

'Well, then it must be a first time for anything, since I didn't do it!'

'The chief will decide over what will happen next. Now sit down and don't try anything suspicious!' The guard's tone became impatient.

Sonic sat down, and twiddled his thumbs for a bit, waiting until they were caught off-guard. 'Since you won't believe me…'

Various thuds were heard through the helicopter, and the pilot was losing his control from what happened behind him. 'What the…' he set the helicopter to auto-pilot and went to the back, seeing various soldiers knocked unconscious, and Sonic was trying to ram a metal plate from the floor against the door. 'Stop right there!' The pilot yelled as he tried to pick up a stun gun from a soldier, but it was too late, as the hedgehog managed to break the door open and jumped without hesitation out of the helicopter, trying to put the plate under his feet, spinning it in a attempt to slow down his falling speed as he enjoyed the view of the city lights from the sky. 'Whooo!'

Dr. Eggman entered his secret base through a passageway, and once inside stepped out of his Eggmobile, grumbling and kicking a rock. 'Bah, of all the rotten luck…hm…maybe some television will take my mind off it before I'll head to the ARK!' He smiled as he lied lazily on a chair with his feet on a panel and picked up a remote, zapping through the channels, until a certain one caught his eye. Witnessing a live broadcast as a news reporter was standing in the city.

'We just received this news! According to the police, there has been a wild chase going on the last 20 minutes to arrest the world-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog, wanted for being a prime suspect in stealing a Chaos Emerald from the Federal Reserve Bank, and for hostile resistance. I am pretty sure this news comes as a shock to the whole nation. We don't have the exact details leading to this accusation yet, bu-huh? What is that?' The news reporter pointed towards the top of the Station Square river bridge, and the camera zoomed in on what appeared to be a hedgehog standing on top of one of the support pillars. 'Up there! Is it Sonic? Ah! It's gone! We'll be right back with more details.' Eggman smiled as he thought in himself: 'Heheh, sounds more like the work of Shadow!'

The blue hedgehog ran as fast as he could, grinding rails and evading the GUN mechs that keep firing stunning shots at him when he wasn't passing through crowded streets. 'Darn, they're fast!' He took a left turn at a crossroad and the mechs followed in pursuit, but it didn't notice the hedgehog when they saw the next street, and noticed a small alleyway to the left, and a group of 3 headed in it, and passed by without any trace of him.

When he didn't hear any noise, Sonic climbed out of a garbage can, and removed the trash off his shoes. 'Yuck! Hmm, where to go…I bet those military guys have the entire area sealed…I doubt if I can make it out of the city for tonight…ah! I should be able to hide in Amy's room! She knows I must be innocent!' Sonic recalled her telling that she was staying at a hotel while she was working there for extra money. 'No time to lose!'

He started to carefully run from place to place, trying to zip by without any police forces seeing him now that he got them off his tail for the time being…

In another alleyway, Shadow was resting, leaning his backside against the brick wall while holding the stolen Chaos Emerald in his left hand. 'Nrrg, I'm not used to running for this long…I must have been sealed for too long in there.' He closed his eyes briefly to try and get his physical endurance restored. As if on cue with allowing his eyes to be shut, he saw brief flashes of a memory that he somehow recalled.

He saw a hallway bouncing up and down, and heard heavy breathing from a human girl who ran after him as he held her hand firmly in his. Behind him he could hear gunfire and voices screaming 'Don't let them get away!' 'They've gone this way!' His vision went blurry and it became clear with the vision of the girl bleeding out of her stomach, her face growing white as she pushed a button before collapsing to the ground, muttering with her final breath: 'S-Shadow…'

As if it fueled him, Shadow awoke with renewed energy, clenching his fist. 'Maria…I have not forgotten your death.'

'Hey!' A voice called out, and he turned to the left. 'What's that you got there?' At the other side of the alleyway, a blue hedgehog was standing, and quite hostile at that.

Sonic approached him first at a slow pace. 'A Green Chaos Emerald?' His pace increased. 'Now I get it! The military mistook me for you!' Sonic dashed at him attempting to grab the Chaos Emerald out of his hand, but the black hedgehog stepped aside as if he easily predicted his move. 'What?' Sonic braked and glared at him. 'To step aside with my speed…now I'm sure of it!' He punched in the hedgehog's direction with a quicker pace, and it landed a hit on his shoulder, but he still held the Chaos Emerald. 'Argh! You shouldn't have done that.' His red eyes glaring at Sonic, who stood ready.

However, he couldn't predict what happened next: The black hedgehog apparently used the Chaos Emerald somehow, and disappeared like a fading hologram. 'What? What was-Ah!' He was shocked as the hedgehog reappeared right in front of him and punched him straight in the stomach, and Sonic kneeled on the ground, covering his stomach with his eyelids closed slightly. 'Ahh….darn…' He looked up and immediately was pushed out of the alleyway by a rough push from the fiend, lying with his stomach on the ground.

'Who…are you?' Sonic tried to get up, but he still felt the pain in his stomach, and grunted slightly. He could still see that the hedgehog his back to him, and could hear him saying: 'I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. I've wasted enough time here… Chaos Control!' And then disappeared using the Chaos Emerald to warp away.

'Shadow…I won't forget this.' Sonic mumbled. However, he then saw a light from above shining on him as a helicopter stopped. 'Shoot…'

In a hotel building close to where Sonic was lying, Amy Rose was sitting on her bed, eating away her dinner as she looked to the ground still being troubled by happened earlier that evening. She saw the news flash and still couldn't believe that her hero would be a criminal. However, the noise from a helicopter descending caught her attention, as well as police sirens that became louder. 'What's happening?' She got up placing her dinner on the bed and looked out of the balcony. Her eyes widened and gasped as she saw Sonic being held on the ground and handcuffed by 3 soldiers, with a whole squadron of GUN mechs having surrounded him. 'Sonic!' She shrieked and ran out of her room as fast as she could.

She arrived outside only to see a entire crowd watching what happened too, and she pushed herself through it. 'Let me through! I must see Sonic!' Her disbelief over this was stronger than the people calling her out, and she saw how the blue hero was lifted up and dragged towards a helicopter, him being eerily silent, which wasn't like his usual self. She tried to run towards him. 'No! Let him go! He's innocent!' But a group of soldiers blocked her. 'Miss, please stand back!' But she started to shout at the top of her lungs. 'I won't stand back for you! You're all making a big mistake, SONIC IS INNOCENT!' Her eyes were filled with fury now, but she was surprised when the soldiers started to threaten her. 'Miss, you're this close to being arrested for defending a hostile suspect and being a inconvenience to our forces. Don't push your luck!'

Amy backed off and silently walked in the other direction, her mood suddenly completely changed from that one threat. 'Sonic…' she started to sniff as tears formed from the corners of her eyes. 'What can I do?' She sulked off looking aside to one of the many helicopters around the scene, until she noticed one of the helicopters being unmanned and nobody payed attention to it. Feeling hope in her eyes and a determination to help Sonic no matter the risk, she carefully sneaked towards the opening, and went to the back of the cargo area, where quite a few crates were stored. 'Come on, please let one be empty…' She finally found one which contained broken mech parts, and still had quite some room left in it for her to fit in. 'Bingo!' She opened the lid and jumped inside it, closing it on top of her. 'I hope this place goes to where Sonic's going to be held…'

She could hear people talking as they entered the helicopter, pressing her ear against the crate, and could make out two voices close by her, talking to each other.

'So, where is that hedgehog going again?'

'Prison Island.'

"Isn't that the newly reinforced island base in the southern ocean?'

'Yes, it's what he deserves for putting several of our mechs out of function and knocking out our troops. Besides, after we're done with our shift, you still need to bring these crates to that island as well for repairs!'

'Fine…looks like it will be a late night again…'

She smiled and sat down comfortably in the box. 'Don't worry Sonic…I'll free you out of there, somehow!' She thought in herself.

'This is Rouge, reporting in to HQ. I've managed to locate Eggman's base, and I'm proceeding to infiltrate it.' The bat spoke into a small transmitter that was hidden in her ear and clicked on it ending the transmission as she clung to a wall, and flew around looking for a entrance using the night sky to cover herself.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman grinned as he completed something he had been working on the last 2 hours, and activated it while standing on top of the platform. He disappeared in a flash and then saw several metal walls around him unlike the ones in his base. Looking down at his feet, he nearly fell from surprise as he was standing on solid glass, and went to one of the windows, seeing that he was in space, with the Earth in view. 'I did…I DID IT! Hahaha! Truly I am a genius for making a transporter able to warp me to this extent!' He gloated, until he heard a door opening automatically.

'So you've arrived, Doctor.' Eggman turned his head and saw it was Shadow, juggling the Chaos Emerald up with his left hand. 'Ah, Shadow.' Eggman walked towards him. 'I'm not doubting your various abilities, but how did you get here so quickly?' The hedgehog held the Emerald in a manner to show it off. 'I possess the ability to warp distances…and I can increase that distance when I hold one of these gems in my hand. I call it Chaos Control.' The doctor widened his eyes. 'So-so…I've certainly underestimated you.'

'But enough pleasant chatter. Did you bring along your Chaos Emerald as well?' Eggman picked in in his pocket and showed it to him as proof. 'Very well, follow me.' Shadow nodded his head in a direction.

'Hmm, let's see…is it…Eggman?' The password was accepted as she inputted it in the security check, and ran into the next room, seeing it was from what she assumed Eggman's personal chamber. 'Hmm, what do we have here?' She walked up to the control panel and noticed text appearing instantly. 'A space transporter? I guess he really does have a IQ of 300 as those reports claim. Let's see the destination…what? Space Colony ARK?' She putted a finger up to her chin thinking about what she knew of the place. 'Wasn't that space colony shut down about 50 years ago? What would he gain from searching around in that dusty research facility?' She shrugged it off and activated the transmission commands. 'Oh well, that's my mission to find out.'

'We've arrived.' Shadow said as he opened up a door and walked ahead into the darkness filling the room. 'Hm? I don't see anything…' Eggman commented, but was briefly blinded as the lights in the room were activated. 'Argh! What's the meaning of this?' Eggman rubbed his eyes behind the sunglasses and walked towards where Shadow was standing, besides a control panel in the center of the room. 'This is what I wanted to show you, Doctor.' He pressed on a button and something opened up from the floor, the platform Shadow was standing on rising up slowly as Eggman looked with curiosity to what it was. 'The ARK was the first successful space colony created and launched into space by mankind. To the public, it was known as a simple research center…however, in truth the colony was also a place where the government wanted the scientists, Professor Gerald included, to develop weapons for their defenses.' As he finished his sentence, the platform was fully raised and stairs were formed to the panel, machinery being shown underneath it. 'This is one of the few weapons that was successfully finished. A weapon capable of destroying large meteorites and even a part of a planet. The Eclipse Cannon.'

Eggman widened his eyes when he heard those last words. 'Capable of destroying a part of the planet?' He ran towards the control panel and checked the information on it to confirm it for himself. 'Did my grandfather really create this?' Shadow nodded. 'Yes, the government wanted to use the cannon in order to destroy large meteorites if those would ever show up and threaten to make it past the ozone layer and impact Earth, but they abandoned this weapon when they shut down the ARK.'

'Huh? Why would they do that?' Eggman questioned further. Shadow raised the Chaos Emerald he had in his hand. 'Because it requires a incredibly large amount of energy. By any normal means, one blast would require a estimated amount of 500 Chaos Drives, the energy source that powers those mechs the government uses. However, the professor found a way around this.' Pressing another button, he revealed 7 slots appearing from the top of the control panel in a cross formation. 'In order to have the weapon fully charged at all times, it would require the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds, the mystical gems containing unlimited power.' He commented before inserting the green one he stole from the bank inside one of the slots. 'However, the government found this solution to be too difficult as they thought they could never find all seven.'

'Ahaa!' Eggman looked at the screen and noticed it read: 'Energy charging, 2% done, estimated time before completion: 1 week.' 'So that's why you said I should have brought the Chaos Emerald with me.' He inserted the white one in a slot as well, but the screen didn't show much positive results, 7% and about 6 days until completion. 'Precisely. This is my gift to you for freeing me, Doctor Eggman.' The doctor smiled as he shaked Shadow's hand. 'Hahahaha! Oh thank you, Shadow! With this device, I shall threaten the government to surrender Station Square and all neighboring cities to me, so I can finally establish my Eggman Empire! And if they resist…' His grin widened as he thought about it. 'But…this will not suffice! I can't wait 6 days until I can dominate the world! I need the other 5 Chaos Emeralds!'

'Maybe I can help with that problem?'

The two looked around, completely surprised by that voice, and Shadow shouted concentrating in forming a lightning-like lance in his hand: 'Who's there?' Although when they thought about where the voice came from, they looked up and noticed a anthropomorphic female bat hanging on the ceiling and dropped down. 'I'm sorry for startling you two, but from what I heard just now, I think I can offer some help.' She explained further completely calm and casually about the situation. Eggman looked suspiciously at her, and approached her, Shadow still standing there with the object in his hand ready. 'Hmph, and just who are you supposed to be, bat?'

'I'm just a simple thief who happened to stumble upon your base and your space transportation device. I wanted to find some shiny jewels you might have stashed somewhere, and I thought following you in here might lead to some of those beauties, and I decided to eavesdrop on that conversation you just had for clues.' the young woman explained further. 'However, I think that, assuming you really need help in tracking down those Chaos Emeralds, we can perhaps make a deal?'

'A deal?' Eggman became interested as he nodded to Shadow to stand down and he made the object disappear, looking with his arms crossed towards her instead.

'Yes. I was thinking about this proposition: I will find for you those 5 remaining Chaos Emeralds you need for your little scheme, and I will get all the valuable jewels you have stashed in your base. Assuming that of course you do have anything of those kinds stored anywhere?' Eggman frowned. 'Of course I have! But let me warn you, bat girl, that those Chaos Emeralds aren't easy to find, so how can I trust you on you-AH!' He was surprised when she pulled out the dark blue Chaos Emerald from her jumpsuit. 'I think that actions do speak louder than words, don't you agree? It may be worth mentioning that I specialize in all acquiring all kinds of jewels, including the Chaos Emeralds. Do we have a deal?'

Eggman looked down for a bit thinking about the situation, but his answer was without any hesitation. 'Very well. I'll show you my valuables as proof when we get back to my base, miss…um….'

'Rouge the Bat, but since we have a deal, you can call me Rouge.' She smirked. 'Dr. Eggman, the pleasure's all mine.' He smiled as he took the Chaos Emerald and inserted it into the slot as well. 'And who's the black boy over there?' She shared a quick look at the black hedgehog. 'Shadow.' He replied, glaring at her in a manner that secretly sent a chill running down her spine.

The next day came quickly, and Miles Prower woke up with a yawn out of his bed, and went downstairs to grab some breakfast. Eating his bowl of cereal, he then turned on the TV to see if there was anything on it before he would go and work on his projects as usual. However the first channel he saw surprised him immediately. Seeing footage of Sonic being dragged to a helicopter, the scene then switched over to the studio where the newsreader revealed further information.

'From what we have confirmed from the Guardian Units of Nations, they have brought the suspect to the newly reinforced military base in the southern seas, called Prison Island, where he will remain until further action. Most likely he will have to appear in court in conjunction with the robbery of the Federal Reserve Bank and for assaulting various soldiers and demolishing their mechs.' The fox immediately muted the TV, and ran towards the garage in his workshop after swallowing the last bit of his cereal. 'No way that Sonic would ever do those things!" He turned on the lights and grabbed his toolbox getting ready to work further on the Tornado 3. 'Good thing I've been working on a new mode in this…if I hurry up I might be able to bust Sonic out of that place in time.'

At that very same time, Knuckles found about 5 of the Master Emerald Shards. He put them in a hand-made bag and continued to search the area's off for more shards using the shards' energy as a means of detecting where they might be.

However, later in the afternoon, trouble was brewing on a coastline of a island not far off from the Prison Island one. Three individuals were looking at the island, discussing with each other.

'Hm, I never expected to have to come back to that island…are you absolutely sure that 3 of the remaining Chaos Emeralds are located within the base?' Eggman said as he used binoculars to check the island from afar.

'Of course, good Doctor. I have connections, and my sources are reliable.' The bat commented on his question. Even Shadow added to the conversation, sitting on a rock: 'One thing is certain. Since your break-in, they must have reinforced the whole island with improved security.'

'Heh, they might have improved security, but I have 2 trump cards and a great plan ready!' Eggman grinned as he searched in his Eggmobile.

'What do you mean?' Shadow raised a eyebrow until he and Rouge noticed him holding a small square-shaped device with a installable timer on it.

'Here's what I've come up with, so listen closely. First, I will go ahead and cause much chaos on the island with my little beauty here.' He proudly tapped the side of his vehicle. 'Those fools will waste most of their defenses coming after me. After about 10 minutes, we will meet up again close to the interior of the base when I've shaked them off for further instructions.' Rouge and Shadow, you two cooperate to get to the rendezvous point undetected from another island within that time, and wait for my arrival!'

The two nodded and Eggman flew off towards the island, leaving the bat and the hedgehog to fend for themselves. 'Well, let's get going then, shall we? Hm?' Shadow ran towards the direction of a island to the northwest of Prison Island. 'Follow me and don't lag behind.'

'Zzzz…huh? Ah!' Amy woke up as she was still lying on the broken mech parts, having apparently fallen asleep during the ride. Realizing she probably must have been landed on Prison Island by now based on what the soldiers were saying, she opened up the crate top slowly, and didn't see any soldiers around, and that she was in a storage room. 'Doesn't seem that they've checked out the contents yet…good.' She got out as quietly as she could and sneaked out of the room, being careful to look from behind a corner before walking in the hallway, and was looking around the area for possible camera's. 'Where's Sonic being kept in here?'

All of a sudden, a loud explosion sound was heard, and the base vibrated a bit. Being completely caught off-guard, Amy lost her balance and fell on her behind, but still kept quiet despite feeling pain. 'What was that?' She thought as she tried to rub the pain away, but no sooner did she hear people shouting in the distance, and was aware that it sounded like they were heading in her direction, and quickly looked around for something to hide, and did so behind a set of crates, hearing soldiers shout various things. 'Prepare for attack formations! There's a assault on Prison Island and the perpetrator seems to be Dr. Eggman! Come on, move!'

When the noise of the guards yelling was gone, Amy continued her search, but thoughts rushed through her mind as she still heard explosion sounds around her. 'Dr. Eggman? What is he doing here? If he's here to finish off Sonic, I have to get him out quickly!'

Pfft, they call that improved security? Not even a single laser trap in the vicinity!' The doctor gloated as he used his transformed walker mode to lock onto and blast several jets and mechs out of the sky while proceeding to run through a part of the facility. 'Hmm…5 minutes left…Shadow and Rouge better hurry up.'

The two managed to sneak on board the deck of the base undetected thanks for Shadow's speed and Rouge carrying him through gliding in the air, and hided somewhere close to the entrance of the interiors under a small roof and behind a truck. 'Okay, now we wait for the Doc's signal…' Shadow was standing at the side of the truck being silent and apparently in his own thoughts. Rouge was thinking about him. 'Shadow…could he be related to that top secret weapon with the same name?'

Her thoughts were interrupted as they heard stomping movements and Rouge looked from the corner of the truck, and saw it was Eggman. 'We're over here, Doctor!'

'Ah! Good timing, earlier than expected!' He looked around quickly to see if nobody was around, and signaled them to proceed into a darkened armory room.

Amy was still looking around, her walking slowly turned into carefully running around, and was still clueless on Sonic's whereabouts. 'Where can he be?' Suddenly her head turned in a direction she quickly scanned, and saw a figure that she knows all too well standing in the distance in another room, even if it was very dark, and proceeded to run towards him, thinking: 'Sonic! He got out of there by himself! I knew it!'

Eggman quickly looked around for safety measures and pulled out the device again along with two walkie-talkies, and threw the device and one of them over to Shadow. 'You go inside the base, and contact me when you found a good spot to set this explosive device. I'll tell you on what timer you need to set it for the countdown!' He nodded, and Eggman turned his attention to Rouge, giving her the other walkie-talkie. 'And you go inside the base as well and get those 3 Emeralds, and get out of there before the whole island blows up! I assume that since you were informed of it's location, you should also be aware of where they might be exactly hidden, isn't it, bat girl?'

'Heh, leave it to me, Doc!'

'Good, then I will continue to wreck havoc on the island and distract the guar-'

'Sonic! I knew you would make it out of there by yourself!' The two turned their heads to Shadow's direction as he was being hugged from the side by someone. 'Huh? What's the meaning of this?' Shadow grumbled loudly as he pushed the hugger off him, and the pink hedgehog looked confused at him. 'What? That voi-ah!' Her look turned into fear the instant he glared at her. 'You're not Sonic! Just who are you?' She became even more frightened when she saw another person calling her out. 'Amy?'

'Doctor Eggman? Aaaaaaahh!' Out of instinct, she immediately ran outside in complete panic.

'Drat! That annoying pest will alert the guards to our location! You two, get inside! I'll handle this little problem!' They nodded and headed further inside the hallway, and Eggman gave chase after Amy, who ran outside on the deck looking for a place to hide.

Meanwhile Tails was flying over the sea in the Tornado 3 and saw the island he saw on TV coming into view. 'This must be the island where Sonic's being kept. Hm?' He approached the island at a lower altitude and saw various mechs broken down and boats emitting smoke. 'Could Sonic have done this?' His ears then twitched as he heard a familiar scream coming not far away, and looked closely in it's direction, seeing a pink hedgehog running across the deck of the base, and a certain round scientist shooting at her.

'Amy and Eggman? If he's around here, that can't be good!' He flew the plane downwards increasing it's speed, and pressed on a button. 'Time to test this out.' and the plane was morphing into a walking machine.

'No!' Amy looked distressed as she stopped at the end of the deck, with the sea below her, and quickly looked around, Eggman laughing deviously. 'Hahaha, end of the road for you, Amy! What's it gonna be, swimming or death?' He heard a noise coming from above and looked up before noticing he was being shot at. 'Whaa!' He jumped back and all of a sudden a mech landed in front of him. 'Tails? Grr…just my luck!'

Amy breathed a sigh of relief as she saw who was piloting the other mech. 'Tails! I'm so glad to see you!' But she was quickly interrupted. 'Amy, hide somewhere while I take care of him!' She nodded and ran towards one of the nearby buildings to hide in.

'Oh no you don't!' Eggman prepared to fire more rounds at her, when he was bashed from the front by the two-tailed fox. 'Gah! Grr…you're not getting away with this, you annoying little fox!' He shot machine gun fire from his mech at Tails, and he felt the hits damaging the Cyclone's engine, but he managed to retaliate with bullet fire from the front of the bipedal plane, damaging Eggman's machine a bit, and finished it off with a surprise hit from the front propellor like a punch. 'How's this, Eggman?' Seeing smoke coming from his mech, he knew it wasn't looking good for him and shouted to Tails: 'Darn it! I won't forget this, fox boy!' And emitted a smoke screen in front of him to cover his retreat.

'Hold it!' Tails tried to shoot at the smoke screen, but to no avail, and it cleared up revealing he was gone.

Seeing that Eggman was gone, Amy came out from her hiding spot and greeted him. 'Whew, you really saved me there, thanks Tails!'

'No problem Amy, but…how did you get here? This is a heavily guarded military base!'

'When Sonic was arrested last night, I sneaked on board one of the helicopters and hitched a ride to this base, and I've been searching for him since I woke up. Are you here to help Sonic out too?' Tails nodded, but quickly turned his attention towards the smoking machinery. 'It seems the whole island is in a uproar, though. Is it Eggman's doing?'

'Yeah, I heard explosions and the soldiers were shouting that it was Eggman's doing. He must be up to something here…but we gotta save Sonic first!'

'Right! But…do you have any idea where Sonic might be imprisoned here?' Amy shook her head in disappointment.

'No, I don't, but we should try looking for him around the base while the guards are distracted!'

Tails tried to move the transformed plane around, but he noticed the engine was malfunction badly by now. 'I'm sorry Amy, I can't join you. Eggman hit the engine part of the Tornado 3 pretty badly, and I need to get somewhere safe to fix it…ah, I'll be in that forest area over there!' He pointed towards a area near the base filled with trees.

'Got it. When I free Sonic out of there, we'll come in your direction right away!' Amy nodded before she ran back in the base, and Tails went in the direction of the forest.

Shadow planted the device on a electric generator within the base, figuring that it would be the ideal spot to set the explosion off. 'I'm in position, Doctor. Tell me the desired time.'

Eggman hided out somewhere as he continued to distract the military with various gunfire despite the damage it suffered earlier. 'Grr, I met with some unexpected trouble on my end earlier. I can't distract them for longer than I originally planned. We need to act fast. Set the timer to 15 minutes and get out of there! Rouge, find those Emeralds immediately!'

'Alright. 5 minutes should do it.' She responded as she closed the transmission and sneaked around the interior of the base, using the knowledge of her connections with the government to quickly track down the Chaos Emerald held in the facility. 'Shame that I have to play my role as a double agent to this extent…but a mission is a mission.' She thought in herself.

Meanwhile, Amy still looked around, until she finally noticed something on the wall. 'Ah! A map! Let's see…prison area…ah! There it is!' She hurried off towards where she assumed Sonic was.

About 2 minutes later, she arrived there, and heard voices talking in the room, taking cover in a corner.

'Tell me, hedgehog, why is Dr. Eggman here on the base?'

'Heck if I know, maybe he's here for some military stuff to raid?'

'Don't push your luck. You've been very uncooperative with our questions since you were brought here, and our patience is wearing thin.'

'For the 9th time, I didn't rob that bank! And if you want that Egghead stopped, just release me!'

'What, so you can run off again? Fat chance. I'll keep you in here until we've dealt with the problems outside. And you'll better make up your mind by then.'

The guard was about to leave and Sonic leaned with his back against the wall. 'Those stubborn…huh?' He heard a loud thud coming from the direction of where the guard just walked into, and was surprised who he then saw. 'Amy?'

'Sssh! Keep your voice down!' She whispered. 'I just knocked out that guard over there on the head with a metal bar and took this ID card from him.' Sonic caught the hint as Amy showed him what she held in her hand. 'Ah. Quickly, let me out of here.'

'Naturally.' She smiled as she ran the ID card through a slide checking device and it recognized the card, opening the cell bars from the top. 'Ah, thanks a bunch, Amy.' He whispered to her, giving her a thumbs up, making her giggle slightly. She then noticed something on the walls in the cell. 'Hey Sonic, did you write all that while you were in here?'

He shrugged his head. 'I don't have a pencil with me, and this was written on there before I was thrown in the cell. Maybe some nut drew some doodles to play games with himself or something.'

The two tiptoe'd past the unconscious guard as she answered his question once they were out of the prison room. 'When you were arrested last night I hitched a ride in one of the helicopters and waited until it was safe and I went out to look for you.' Sonic whistled in response. 'Wow, you certainly got guts to do something like that.'

As they left the building with Sonic following Amy out, she pointed towards a forest area. 'Actually, Tails came here too. He saved me from Eggman a few minutes ago, but during the fight with him the engine of the Tornado was damaged and he's waiting there for us while he's fixing it to make sure we're ready to leave as soon as possible.'

'Gotcha!' Sonic picked up Amy and held her under her legs and back. 'We'll be there in no time!'

Rouge smiled as she picked up the third Chaos Emerald in a large safe and was about to leave, until she suddenly heard a alarm going off. 'Warning, intruders located in the base. Proceeding with emergency lockdown.' What?' She tried to fly out of the safe, but it was too late as it closed off before she could exit it. 'No! Damn it!' She pounded the door out of frustration. 'I wasn't informed of these measures…' She sat down on the floor and tried the transmitter for assistance. 'Hello? Doctor Eggman? Come in! Do you copy?' It was completely silent on the other end, with a lot of static going off. 'Darn, the walls are thick and the doctor must have left the island…' 'Shadow? Do you copy?'

On another island Shadow was walking away from Prison Island until he heard his transmitter beep. 'Shadow? Do you copy? This is Rouge. I've got a big problem here. I've got all the 3 Chaos Emeralds, but I'm locked in a giant safe somewhere in the facility! I guess I can't call myself a expert thief anymore in a few minutes…Shadow, can you please help me?'

He thought in himself as he looked to Prison Island: 'That bat messed up…oh well, the Chaos Emeralds will survive the blast. I'll simply search the ocean later.' He was about to walk away again until he experienced those flashbacks again. This time they were much briefer, and he saw that Maria person looking sadly at him, and he kept seeing them until he saw a connection. 'Maria…do you really want me to do this?' He remained silent with his eyes closed kneeling to the ground, until he made up his mind. 'If I die along with that bat, I'll kill her!'

Tails was still working on fixing the engine when he heard a familiar voice call him out. 'Hey buddy!' Turning his head, he smiled as he saw Sonic standing there putting Amy down. 'Hey Sonic! I guess Amy bailed you out?'

'Yep. She told me what was going on here. How's the engine doing?' Sonic looked at it briefly.

'It still has a few holes in it I need to plug. It won't take long, probably 4 minutes at best.' Tails explained before he continued working on it.

'Alright, the sooner we can get off this island, the better.' Sonic turned his attention to Amy who was standing close to him. 'Amy, you encountered Eggman awhile ago right? Did you get any information from him on what he's up to now?'

'No, I didn't hear anything about it, but I did see two other figures alongside him.' She explained.

'Who were they?' Sonic was all ears.

'Well…one was a white-colored female bat in a jumpsuit…and the other was a black hedgehog…from afar in the darkness, I accidentally mistook him for you.'

'A black hedgehog?' Sonic was surprised at hearing that, his face turned serious that instant. 'Amy, do you know where he might be?'

'No, I didn't see him after that-huh?' She noticed something speeding by, in a black color, and pointed in that direction. 'Ah! There! I saw him speed by!' Sonic looked in that same direction. 'Here's my chance…Amy, stay here with Tails, I'll be back in a minute!' Sonic gave chase as fast as he could, leaving behind a confused Amy, and Tails looking at her briefly. 'Huh? What's the matter, Amy? Where's Sonic?'

Shadow raced against the clock with his air shoes towards the base. '4 minutes remaining…I'll make it with ease. Huh?' He was caught off-guard as he felt something hitting him from behind against his head, and rolled into a tree and the transmitter falling on the ground. Getting back on his feet shrugging the dirt off his face, he frowned as he saw who stood in front of him. 'You again?'

Sonic looked with a smug grin to the black hedgehog. 'Shadow, right? Felt like repaying the favor from last night.'

'Bah, I don't have time to deal with the likes of you, but since you 'insisted' with that hit…' he quickly rubbed the back of his head. 'I'll finish you off quickly!' He rushed towards him with a fierce look in his eyes he never showed before.

'Bring it on!' Sonic smirked as anticipated a quick kick from Shadow aimed at his leg, and jumped up, trying to counter with a kick to the face, but he in turn rolled to the left. 'Grr…that hedgehog seems to have something besides that flapping mouth.' Shadow thought himself before he tried another tactic and jumped up in the tree branches, jumping from branch to branch confusing Sonic's eye movements up high.

'Wait a minute…Amy, do you hear that?' Tails commented as he was just finished repairing the Tornado 3's engine.

'What is it?' They both were silent as they could hear a announcer broadcasting from the base. 'Warning! A bomb has been found in the base! It's going to detonate in 3 minutes! All personal evacuate the island at once. Repeat, EVACUATE AT ONCE!'

They were shocked at that news. 'A bomb?' Tails rushed to the pilot seat and worked on starting the engine up. 'Amy! Find Sonic! We have to get out of here fast!' Amy ran into the forest screaming at the top of her lungs. 'SONIIIIC!'

'Ah…ugh!' He felt a punch against his cheek from nowhere, and fell to the ground with his face in the dirt. 'What's wrong? Experiencing difficulties?' Shadow started to form a Chaos Spear in his left hand smirking deviously. But he was caught off-guard as well when Sonic quickly used his legs to swipe him off the ground and deliver a punch to his cheek as well. 'Heh, never let your guard down, right?'

Getting seriously angry now, Shadow launched him away with his feet, and the two hedgehogs now simply rushed at each other, both grabbing each other's hand as they wrestled it out in a match of strength.

'This is Dr. Eggman! Shadow! Can you read me? ' The transmitter suddenly emitted a voice, interrupting their fight and both listened to it. 'What in the world are you doing? Get off the island right now before it blows up in 2 minutes with you on it!'

'BLOWS UP?' Sonic shouted, and Shadow quickly kicked him off and rushed off in the distance. Sonic got up and rushed as well in the direction where Tails and Amy were waiting. 'I hope Tails has that engine up and running…huh?' He heard Amy screaming his name and dashed towards her picking her up. 'Sonic! We gotta get off the island, it's-'

'Yes, I heard it's going to explode! Does Tails have the engine fixed? She nodded, much to his delight. 'Good! We gotta dash outta here!' Sonic arrived at the Tornado 3 as Tails got the engine running loudly, and jumped on the wing placing Amy behind Tails and hanging on to the wing, and they took off immediately.

10, 9, 8, 7,

Shadow barged through the door using a powerful Chaos Spear, and rushed to where Rouge was sitting with the 3 Chaos Emeralds in her hands. 'Shadow! You came after all!'

6, 5, 4,

'Chaos Control!' He shouted as he touched them, both him and Rouge disappearing in a flash.

3, 2, 1...

The trio was flying away with Sonic and Amy looking at Prison Island just as it was about to be blown to pieces, and all of a sudden, a large and and loud explosion occurred engulfing the entire island, and they gasped as they witnessed how big the explosion was, nearly reaching them. 'Whoa!' Once the explosion radius receded, Sonic and Amy breathed a sigh of relief. 'Boy…glad we got outta there fast enough…' He whispered as they disappeared in the distant sky.

Shadow looked outside through one of the windows on the ARK, noticing the large blue planet as usual, putting a hand against the glass. 'Earth…' He heard the door opening and a young blonde-haired girl approaching him with a relieved expression. 'Ah, here you are, Shadow. I was looking for you.'

'You were? I'm sorry, Maria. I was just looking out of the window here.' He looked at the blue planet once more, noticing how bright it was. Maria noticed what he was looking at. 'I see, you were looking at the Earth again?' He nodded in silence.

'Maria…I've never asked you this, but…you lived down there some time ago before you went into space, right? What is it like down there? Is it anything like the books and movies you showed me?'

'Yes, it's really beautiful, Shadow.' She looked at him with a gentle smile. 'It is a wonderful experience, seeing the bright blue sky above your head, breathing in the air, and even the raindrops falling on your face. To most people it's nothing as they experience it daily…but when you're up here in space…you realize how much you would miss that basic daily feeling.'

Shadow looked down at the ground, and became a bit emotional. 'Maria…I'm sorry that you have to miss that feeling…living up here in the ARK, it must be really awful, to remain in the same place forever, because of your illness.'

He felt her hand grabbing his, and put the other one on his shoulders. 'Shadow…I'm not sad at all to be here…true, it's a really hard thing what my grandfather is working on with you…but I'm sure that he'll find a cure! And when he does, I can finally return down there! And I want you to come along! I want to show you for yourself how fun it can be!"

Shadow smiled faintly as he felt relieved hearing her words. 'Maria…'

'Hey. Are you okay?' Shadow snapped out of his dream as he gazed to the very same blue planet, and saw from the corners in his eyes that Rouge was walking in his direction. 'You know…I really wasn't expecting that, Shadow. For you to just come back and save me.' A smirk formed from her mouth. 'But I guess that Chaos Control power of yours really comes in handy.'

'I want you to understand one thing. I didn't come back to save you, but to ensure the safety of the Chaos Emeralds. That's all.' He muttered to her, still looking outside.

'Hmm, if that's how you want to see it, fine.'

'Ar-hem! Well, everything's installed!' Eggman proclaimed as he walked in the room. 'Are you sure? We only have 6 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds, doctor.' Rouge remarked, but the scientist was still grinning. 'That doesn't matter, my dear Rouge. It's fully loaded now, so I can finally begin the first stage of my plan! Care to join me and see for yourself?'

A waiter knocked on the door, and it opened up slightly in front of him. 'Miss Rose, here's your order, 3 chili dogs, 1 salami-flavored pizza and a salad.' The pink hedgehog accepted the plate the waiter offered her, and she placed it on the table besides her. 'Thank you, here's the payment, 25 rings, right?' The waiter nodded, and she payed up the amount for the order. 'Enjoy your dinner, miss.' The waiter said as he took his leave, and she waved him after before closing the door and picked the plate up bringing it to Sonic and Tails who were sitting on the bed looking at the TV zapping channels while hiding out from the authorities in her room. 'Here it is, you guys.'

'Ah, I was about to starve!' Sonic smiled as he quickly grabbed one of the chili dogs and started eating it as he looked at a channel that caught his attention, and Tails just took a slice off the pizza, and Amy ate a sample of her salad, sighing. 'You know, Sonic, when I was talking about having dinner together in the evening…I didn't imagine it turning out like this.'

'Oh well, it's good enough for me.' Sonic remarked as he took another bite. 'Besides I'm a fugitive, so I can't exactly show my face at a nice restaurant, can I? This is really the only way I'm getting something to eat in town for now.' Amy knew this was true, and she tried to smile a bit as she did at least had some quality time with Sonic now.

Tails was thinking about what occurred back on Prison Island taking small bites off his pizza in the process. 'Hm…but I still wonder why Eggman would be there on the island? There must have been something he was after, it's nothing like him to just directly assault a military base personally just to cause damage.'

'You got a point there, Tails, but we don't know where he is.'

At that very moment, all of a sudden the channel they were watching was cut off and they nearly coughed their food up when they saw Eggman appearing on the screen, with various self-praising text messages appearing in the background. And it was not just on their TV screen, every TV on the planet had the same footage displayed live, and masses looked at the screens throughout the city.

'Hahaha…citizens of Station Square, and inhabitants of Earth! I interrupt this broadcast to bring all of you a very special announcement! As most of you are probably already aware, but in the somehow baffling case that you aren't, I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik, or more commonly known as Dr. Eggman! The world's greatest and most brilliant scientist! And very soon the world's greatest and most brilliant ruler…because as of today, I announce that Station Square will be the foundation for my glorious Eggman Empire! And I would like to request that all of you look up in the sky, and witness what will happen if you won't accept my glorious rule…'

Sonic, Tails and Amy shoved aside the window curtains and opened up the door to the balcony, looking outside as they witnessed what Eggman meant.

In space, one half of a round spherical object was blown off, revealing the space colony ARK's true appearance, and it had a flat surface underneath it with two round formations in the center resembling eyes and a pointy object in the middle, and 3 triangles emerged from both sides as they stretched out, the last part most likely built recently in order to make it appear like Eggman's face, and the Earth's inhabitants saw a bright blue light emitting from the sky, and were shocked as it suddenly became a large blue beam out of nowhere, and it travelled in the direction of the moon. As it impacted with the moon's surface, all of humanity and animals alike were speechless as in the blink of a eye, a chunk of the moon's surface was blown to pieces, and a large crater was left in it's place. A mere few seconds later, they all heard laughing and looked at the TV screen, reading in white large letters with his logo in the background: 'ALL HAIL THE EGGMAN EMPIRE!'

The whole city was in a uproar, and Sonic Tails and Amy couldn't believe what they saw either, Amy being the first to comment. '…A part of the moon is gone?' Sonic looked with a serious expression to Tails. 'Well, you got your answer there. He's after world domination! As usual!' Tails nodded. 'But where did he manage to get all that energy?' As they knew the immediate answer to that question, the 3 of them said in unison. 'The Chaos Emeralds!' 'That's what he was probably after on that island!'

But just as their misfortune couldn't have been worse, there was a spotlight shining on them from down below, and a megaphone shouted in their direction: 'The three of you, FREEZE! Put your hands up in the air and don't try anything suspicious!'

'Darn! We should have gone back inside quickly!' Sonic picked up Amy and shouted to Tails as they heard gunfire while going back inside: 'Tails! Get the roof and fly out of here! We'll meet up at your workshop near Mystic Ruins!'

'Got it!' The trio rushed out through the hallway in separate directions, their goal being to get out of the city quickly before the police would arrest them.

'Hahaha!' Eggman laughed in victory. 'That completes phase 1 of my plan!' Rouge was astounded by what she witnessed from the blast, thinking in herself. 'So the Eclipse Cannon really is that powerful…' But quickly raised the next question. 'So, you've managed to create complete havoc on the planet, doctor. But what's your next move?'

'Ha! Very simple, Rouge. Next, I'll contact the President to demand complete surrender of the nation so I can establish my empire!' He was about to head to a separate room to establish communications, but Rouge interfered with a logical statement. 'Don't you think that you're rushing things a bit? Call it a wild guess but I bet the president must be pre-occupied right now with the chaos that ensued from your demonstration.' Eggman pondered about it, and agreed with her. 'Very well, I'll contact the president within a hour. Even I'm not that cruel.'

About 15 minutes later, Sonic and Amy arrived at Tails' workshop located in the Mystic Ruins area on a hill overlooking a large blue sea. Sonic lied with his back against the door tapping his feet as he looked at the sky waiting for Tails to arrive, and Amy sat down next to him, thinking about what just happened. Finally after 5 minutes, they saw a silhouette appearing in the sky, and it turned out to be Tails. 'Ah, you're here, buddy!' He landed near them and breathed for air. 'It wasn't easy to evade those cops…*wheeze* but I managed to get out of there. I'm sure they won't searching for us here.' He opened the door and Amy went with him, but Sonic hesitated get inside, as he heard noise nearby.

'Wait a sec, guys, I hear footsteps…' He ran in the direction where it came from, near the giant lake close to the workshop, and he could make out someone digging in the distance, and was red-colored. 'Hey Knuckles!' He shouted in that direction.

The echidna looked up hearing that voice, and seeing who it was waved his hand. 'Oh, hey Sonic.' The hedgehog dashed towards him and sat down on a nearby rock. 'Whatcha doing here? Aren't ya supposed to be guarding Master Emerald on Angel Island?' Knuckles continued to dig further. 'Take a guess out what happened.' Sonic cached on immediately. 'Oh, the Master Emerald broke into pieces again? Lemme guess, the one who did it was bald, pink-nosed and has a ego the size of his body?'

Knuckles was relieved when he managed to dig up another piece of the Master Emerald, putting it in the bag. 'Close. He was about to steal it, but I tried to prevent him from doing so by throwing a rock at him, but I missed my aim, and well… I shattered the Master Emerald in the process.' Sonic felt like making a remark at Knuckles' mistake there, but with what happened a while ago, he think it would be a mood killer. 'Ouch. Do you have any luck finding the shards?'

Knuckles opened the bag to show the amount he collected so far. 'I've got about 9 parts now. I think I'm getting close to getting them all…although I am getting a bit tired. Been searching constantly for 2 days without any rest.

'Without any rest? Geez, Knux…hey, Tails' workshop is just around the corner. Feel like crashing there for the night?' Sonic pointed over his shoulder to the building. Knuckles got up and walked in that direction. 'Hmm, why not? I am kinda getting hungry anyway…'

A few minutes later, the group chatted about all that happened, on Knuckles' side and what Sonic, Tails and Amy all experienced the whole day, and Knuckles ate a sandwich Tails made a bunch of from the refrigerator supplies.

'So lemme get this straight, Sonic is suspected of a crime a black hedgehog committed, Eggman blew a part off the moon and you guys think he has done it using the Chaos Emeralds?'

'Pretty much, and if you want proof, just look at the thing!' Sonic pointed to the sky, and Knuckles couldn't believe it. 'Ah! This is pretty serious.'

Amy commented further on the situation. 'But…could Eggman have all 7 of the Chaos Emeralds already?' Tails heard that and smiled. 'Nope, he doesn't!'

'How do you know that for sure?' Tails ran upstairs and quickly returned with something that surprised everyone, he held the yellow Chaos Emerald in his hand. 'Because I got one right here!'

'Amazing, Tails!' Sonic patted his pal on the back. 'But…what will Eggman do next? If he wanted to blow up Station Square, he would have done so by now.' Tails probably knew the answer right away. 'I bet he must be contacting the President of the United Nations to demand it! I'll try to work on a device to pick up any incoming transmission calls in the country, and tone it to the frequency of that of the White House.'

'You sure you can pull it off, Tails?' Amy questioned him, but Sonic backed him up. 'Don't worry, Tails knows his stuff!'

Eventually Tails has managed to build such a device and sat on the rooftop to get the most optimal transmission range, listening to it closely while feeling the night breeze in his face.

After awhile, Sonic heard Tails calling his name. 'Sonic!' He rushed upstairs and was curious to what he got. 'Listen to this!' He tried to keep the frequency button steady, and could make out the following:

'Who's calling directly to the White House?'

'That's none of your concern! Where is the President?'

'Identify yourself!'

'Fool! I am Dr. Eggman, and I have REALLY urgent business with him, now get him here, on the double!'

'The President is out in private assessing the chaos in Station Square that was caused thanks to you, and don't think you-hello? HEY!"

'Bingo!' Sonic gave a high-five to Tails. 'What's our next move?'

'We gotta get to where the President is. I can probably trace the call to find out where he's hiding! Whoa!' Sonic put him on his back and rushed off towards the city. 'No problem! We'll catch him easily if he's still in the streets!'

Although just as they zoomed off, something large came out of the bushes. 'Hmm? What was that? Did you see it?'

The President was indeed being driven around in a black limousine through the streets, witnessing how the police was trying to calm down the citizens, and were seeming to handle the situation by now. 'Unbelievable…' He closed the window and turned his attention to the secretary sitting next to him. 'How's the rest of the world dealing with the crisis?' The woman still looked at the laptop on her lap and addressed his question. 'Mr. President, reports show that since the incident about a hour ago, most of the citizens around the globe have been restless, and the rest of the world leaders have similar problems calming down their nations. On top of that, our satellite communications are down.'

The President rubbed his forehead in worries, and was surprised when he received a incoming call through the video transmission screen in front of him. Answering it, he demanded to know who it was. 'Who is-huh?' He saw the face of Dr. Eggman, the person responsible for the chaos. 'You!'

'Ah, finally got you on the line, Mr. President! It wasn't easy to find your location since those fools at the office were such nuisances! But enough pleasantries! You must be well aware as to why I'm directly addressing you.'

The President took a deep breath and grumbled. 'What are your demands…Dr. Eggman?'

'Mr. President, my demands are quite simple, really! Surrender to the Eggman Empire, and rename your country to that as well! And don't try anything funny, or I WILL know!'

'And why do you think I would submit my country to the hands of a simple terrorist like you?' The President rebuked.

Eggman grinned. 'Ohohoho, don't be so harsh now, Mr. President. After all, I hold the fate of your country in my hands, and you saw what happened a hour ago. Tell you what, I will give you a ultimatum. Either you submit to my demands, or you better start evacuating the citizens of your country!'

'Hmph, what will you do then? Blow up the whole country?'

'That's exactly what I'm getting at! Don't play games with me, Mr. President. You heard about the missile strike in Station Square, right? Then you should be fully aware of what I'm capable of.'

The President sighed as he knew he had few options left.

'You have 24 hours to give me your answer.'

'You want a answer? Here's one: NO WAY!'

The President looked up and was shocked to see a smug grin looking from the roof of the limousine, and nearly fell to the ground as a blue hedgehog and a yellow fox jump down inside. 'What's the meaning of this?'

Eggman was shocked as well. 'Sonic? You? I gotta close this off! Which was the button again?'

'Eggman Empire…my butt! Don't worry, Mr. President! We got this under control, leave it to my pal! Tails, did you get it?'

The fox smiled as he pulled something from the machinery. behind the screen. 'Yep! This is the memory disc!'

'Great! Let's out of here!' Sonic jumped out through the roof again and Tails followed suit. 'Wait for me, Sonic!'

The President got back up on his feet, still baffled by what happened, and was addressed by the secretary who wasn't shocked in the least. 'Mr. President, we're receiving a incoming call from our agent.'

Sonic and Tails arrived back at the workshop where he proceeded to check the memory disc through a small computer in his bedroom. 'Let's see…ah! He was transmitting the video from something called 'Space Colony ARK'. THis was the first time they heard of that name. 'ARK?' Amy didn't know what it was.

'It must be that thing that Eggman used to fire off that beam!' Sonic remarked. 'But…if it's in space…how do we reach it?'

Tails thought about it, but he yawned as well. 'Hey Tails, you alright?'

'Yeah, I'm fine Sonic…but I'm actually pretty tired…' Soinc looked at a clock on the wall. 'No wonder, it's about 11 PM! Way past your bedtime!' He grinned.

'Why don't we all get some sleep and try to find out about Eggman's whereabouts the next morning?' Amy suggested. Sonic seconded that. 'Alright. Eggman won't continue his world domination plan until 24 hours later, and we'll have plenty of speed to catch up to that mustache guy!'

'Darn it!" Eggman stomped on the control panel in frustration, and Rouge just entered the facility. 'Hm? What's wrong with him?'

'He's blowing steam off because a certain blue hedgehog caught him during his negotiation.' Shadow remarked with a unpleasant tone to his voice as well.

Rouge giggled at his little temper tantrum. 'Look at you, throwing a fit. Kind of embarrassing for a genius with a IQ of 300, isn't it?'

Eggman snarked back at Rouge: 'Hmph! If you're going to insult me, you can forget about our deal, bat girl! And I have every right to be angry. That hedgehog probably knows where I am right now and will come barging in here sooner or later to foil my plans with that annoying grin on his face! Grr… I must have all 7 Chaos Emeralds to have that cannon charged up to maintain my threat immediately, or else the government will foil it as well!' He turned his attention to her fully now. 'That reminds me, where is that last Chaos Emerald? Got any clues on the whereabouts of that?'

'Oh, I got a clue, alright. Here you go.' She tossed him a printed newspaper article which he barely caught, and started to read it.

'July 4th…ah a few days ago… After the Chaos monster's damage to Station Square was restored and reopened to the public a few months ago, Miles Prower, better known under the nickname Tails, was awarded a Chaos Emerald at the city hall for his heroic deed of deactivating a life-threatening malfunctioning missile that was fired from what authorities reported by Dr. Eggman. Ar-hum!' Eggman coughed. 'This makes things a whole lot easier! Rouge, get back to Earth and track down that fox, then steal the Emerald away!' He started to walk towards where the transportation platform was. 'I'm heading back into the base to tuck in for the night. If you succeed, I'll increase your reward!'

Rouge nodded, and she noticed Shadow leaving through another door as well. She could barely hear him mumble to himself: 'Soon enough, Maria.'

After they were both gone, Rouge pressed against something in her ear and whispered after double-checking if nobody was around: 'This is Rouge. So far I haven't been able to get much research done on the matter of 'Project Shadow.' I do have my leads, but I can't confirm anything for the time being. I will continue my investigation as soon as possible, and promise a full report on the case in the next 24 hours. By the way, thanks for the newspaper print. Oh, and just a reminder…don't forget about my payment.'

Sunrise arrived quickly, and Tails and Knuckles both woke up early before Sonic and Amy did a few minutes later. Tails was curious to find out more information about this 'ARK', and shortly thereafter went in the garage with the Chaos Emerald to work on another project. and Knuckles went to grab some breakfast outside looking for fruit in the jungle area.

'Ahhh…nothing like apples and berries in the morning.' Knuckles smiled as he chomped down the fruit he collected. He was about to head back, but then noticed something, the Master Emerald shards in the bag were radiating strongly, and he was on his guard, looking around his vicinity, and he noticed someone standing in a tree near Tails' workshop as he crawled towards it. 'What the…the Master Emerald shards, they radiate the strongest here…' he thought before he punched against the tree and it vibrated causing someone to fall down, but quickly flew up, and Knuckles recognized the person.

'You! Bat girl! You must have one of the Emerald shards! Return it to me immediately!' He shouted loudly, and she grew annoyed. 'Darn, that echidna blew my cover…time to retreat.' And she flew off in the distance.

'Grr! I can't keep up with her on the ground if she flies!' He ran back towards the workshop, and searched the rooms until he saw Tails just finishing up with something. 'Tails!'

'Whaa!' He nearly let the object fall from his hands. 'What is it, Knuckles?'

'Start up that Tornado airplane! We gotta chase after someone!'

They flew in the direction Knuckles pointed to, using the shards in his bag as the hint depending on how fierce they glowed.

'You sure about this, Knux?' Sonic looked at him as they both stood on a wing opposite to each other and Amy sat behind Tails piloting it.

'No doubt about it. 'That bat must have one of the Master Emerald shards, because they radiate when I approached her, and I can't keep up with her in the air on my own.'

'Knuckles!' He turned his towards Amy. 'That bat…is her fur a white color?' He nodded. 'Did you see her before?'

'Yes, I did. Back on Prison Island when I encountered Eggman.' She then turned to Sonic. 'I think that if we keep following her, she might lead us to Eggman!'

They soon saw a figure in the distance flying, and kept a safe distance so as to not let her notice them by the noise. 'Good job, Tails. Keep flying at this speed, and Knuckles, you'll get that shard back, no worries!'

However, she did notice them, and radio'd over to Eggman of her pursuers. Doctor, come in! This is Rouge!' On the other side, Eggman was snoring in his seat until he heard the transmitter and fell off the seat from surprise, grabbing it and grumbled: 'I copy you, Rouge…' '

Doctor, looks like that fox and his friends are following me on my trail. Should I shake them off?' Eggman was about to order to do so, but then thought about the possibility that they would have the Chaos Emerald with them. 'No, keep going and go back to the base! Make sure they don't lose you out of sight, and when you reach my base, go in there immediately so they won't follow you any further. I'll take over then and be sure to give them a warm welcome…hehehe!'

After 20 minutes, they reached a large desert area, and noticed a large pyramid sticking out from the rest and the bat going inside a opening in the wall, and it closed behind her. 'Ah…we lost her, but we've found the base it seems.' Tails said as he lowered the Tornado 3 towards the ground and decreased the engine output as he told Sonic and Knuckles to jump off for a safe landing as he almost hovered slightly above the sand, and then proceeded to transform into the Cyclone form and they stood in front of a massive door with Eggman's symbol on it.

'Yep, this is Eggman's base, alright!' Sonic quickly looked at the others.

'Hmm, I wonder if he has a way to get to that space colony in here.' Tails questioned thinking about it.

'Tails, that Egghead is a mechanical geek! Of course he must have a rocket, spaceship or something along those lines lying in here to get there! But enough time wasted, time to make a house call, pal!'

'Right!' Tails launched a missile at the door blasting it open, and the 4 went inside, Amy holding her hammer that she took along with her this time to defend herself properly.

Although just as they entered in, a head popped out of the sand. 'Huh? You think he went inside that building?' He talked to something standing on his head.

They proceeded deeper inside with no sign of any badniks or guard robots so far, which they found eerily strange, but pressed on anyway. Most of the doors were locked but one pathway they followed to a large room and they saw a door at the end that read with a sign besides it: 'Shuttle Storage chamber.'

'Bingo!' Sonic snapped his finger. 'Well that was easy so far.' He tried to look for a opening somewhere, but couldn't find anything besides a security panel to the left. Amy took a closer look at it and read what it said on the monitor. 'Insert key…a key?'

'A key, eh? We'll leave that to our pal Knuckles!' Knuckles' eyes widened in confusion. 'Huh? Why do I have to look for that key?' Sonic smirked and gave him a thumbs up. 'Because you have a knack for finding stuff, Knuckles buddy. I'm sure finding those keys won't be a trouble. We'll look in different directions as well.'

'The only thing you'll find here is a untimely doom, little intruders!'

They all looked around the room and noticed a wall shoving open, a familiar round mustached guy approaching them from afar.

'Look! A giant talking egg!' Sonic pointed at him. Knuckles stepped forward visibly angry. 'You! Tell me where that bat girl is, now!'

'Hmph! I'll get rid of you all, and take that Chaos Emerald!' He pulled out a small device and pressed on the button. 'And I got a new little invention that's perfect for that job!'

'Heh, another toy? Great! It's been awhile since I wrecked one of those!' Sonic stretched his legs in preparation, but he was really surprised when he saw a hole opening in the middle of the floor, and a giant stone humanoid rising out from it as it closed the hole underneath it. 'Woah…' 'Sonic! Be careful!' Amy screamed at him.

The creature, or robot most likely, stood there and was huge, Sonic by comparison only was about as tall as it's feet.

'Crush those pests, Egg Golem! Start with that blue hedgehog, Sonic!' Eggman shouted as he pointed to his archnemesis, and the robot immediately launched it's fist at him. 'Whoa!' He barely managed to run aside, but as it pulled it's fist from the ground, he noticed something on it's head, some sort of round mechanical sphere. 'Could that be it's weak spot?' He noticed that Tails was firing at the robot from the side, but it's fireweapons had no apparent effect on it. Sonic got a idea that was dangerous, but decided to take the risk. Dashing over to where his friends stood, he shouted: 'Get out of the way!' and they moved as Sonic stood in front of the locked door, and taunted the Egg Golem. 'Hey, Rocky! Over here! See if you can kick this! He slapped his butt briefly to draw attention, and as he thought, it delivered a hard kick in his direction, but he dashed out of the way in time and it kicked through the door, creating a opening in it.

'No! Not there!' Eggman punched a wall in frustration. 'Get that hedgehog! Immediately!'

'Tails, Amy!' Go through that door, quickly!' Sonic pointed to the door and the two dashed as fast as they could through it, and he approached Knuckles, whispering something in it's ear. 'Got it, Sonic.'

'I'm counting on you!' He dashed away from the Egg Golem and taunted it once more, thinking he could outsmart it again, but it apparently learns quickly, and kneeled down, with both of it's hands rushing from the sides and grabbed Sonic. 'Ah! Nrgh!' He tried to wrestle free, but it's grip tightened.

'Heheh!' Game over, Sonic!' Eggman laughed as he issued the next order. 'Headbutt that pest!'

But all of a sudden, Knuckles glided using his locks from the top of the wall to the Golem's head, and landing on it's sphere, he then delivered a hard punch to it, and jumped off immediately, causing the robot to go crazy and spin it's head around, releasing Sonic, and crashed with it's head against the wall, falling down.

'What? No! Get up!' He saw Sonic and Knuckles dash to the opening as well, and stomped the ground in anger. 'Gah! I should have covered up the AI mechanism before they arrived here! That useless piece of junk!'

As if it heard that, the Egg Golem got up and looked at it's creator. 'What the…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' He saw it trying to stomp on him with it's foot, and just dived out of the way. 'What's wrong with you, you worthless-AH! NO GET AWAY FROM ME! HEEEEELP!' He ran away at a surprising speed as the malfunctioning Egg Golem was chasing after it.

'Heh, that guy could use some exercise.' Sonic laughed before he turned around and saw Tails, Knuckles and Amy checking out one of the shuttles that were stored in the room. 'What do you think, Tails, will this get us in space?'

'Sure can, Sonic! I just need a minute to install it's launch coordinates after I move the Cyclone in the cargo area. Then we can take off, immediately!'

'Alright!' The 4 proceeded through the walkway inside the shuttle, seeing 3 sections of it, the main area in where the entrance was located, the front which was separated by another door had several seats and a front one for the controls, and one behind the main area which was apparently the cargo area meant for storing supplies. Amy moved to the front and fastened her seatbelt, and was shaking a bit.

'What's wrong, Amy?' Sonic raised a eyebrow. 'I'm just nervous, Sonic…I've never been into space before, and I'm afraid of the liftoff…what if something goes wrong?' Sonic held her hand briefly and winked. 'Hey, I'm here if anything goes wrong, remember that, alright?' She smiled faintly feeling a bit relieved hearing his encouraging words. 'Okay Sonic.'

He checked out Knuckles who was standing with Tails in the cargo hold, Tails strapping the Cyclone tight against the wall, while Knuckles simply dropped it on the floor, confident of it's safety. 'Hey Knux, got any leads on the last shard that bat carried around as you suspected?'

He shrugged his head. 'No, they don't radiate any longer, I guess that bat girl got up to that space colony thing somehow. So I'm following you guys into space, and after her.' Sonic smiled. 'Well, good to have you on board. Oh, and thanks for earlier there, you saved my hide.'

The three sat down having their seatbelts strapped tight to the chair and were preparing themselves for countdown as Tails programmed the coordinates in, but Sonic heard Tails calling for his help, and went outside and towards him. 'What is it Tails?'

'I have a small problem, Sonic. I can set it for immediate countdown, but the timer is only 10 seconds, and I can't make it to the shuttle within that time limit. I'll set the timer to 2 minutes so the engines can build up energy and when the message on the screen appears for the countdown confirmation, press this green button here, and then dash for it, okay?'

'Yep!' Tails pressed the first button to initiate the program, and went to the shuttle entrance. Sonic tapped his foot and looked around him as he heard the engines getting steadily louder. He even closed his eyes briefly and hummed a tune in his head. '2 minutes…come on, I don't have all day!' He looked around again out of boredom, but he thought he saw something. 'Huh? …Something purple going in the shuttle? …Nah, must be my imagination…' Then just as he was about to yawn, the screen beeped, and he pressed the green button, and dashed to the shuttle as a computer voice filled the room.

'Green light for launch confirmed. Primary engine ignition on. Beginning liftoff countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, Sonic just managed to get through the entrance as the walkway moved aside, and closed the entrance, joining his friends in a seat up on the front and fastened his seatbelt as he prepared for the launch, seeing the roof open up. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…shuttle liftoff!

And with that, the shuttle blasted through the opening in the pyramid's roof, entering space in 1 minute, and detached the support engines as they accelerated into space.

'Haah..haah…' Eggman breathed for air as he managed to hide temporarily from the Egg Golem still looking for him. 'Hello? Rouge! Come in!' He whispered to the transmitter he pulled out of his jacket.

'Hello, doctor. How did your plan go? What? They escaped? Well that's unfortunate…' She responded rather dry, as if she expected the outcome.

'Rouge, I want you to take over for me temporarily! Activate the ARK's defenses, before they can get to the control room of the Eclipse Cannon!'

'I'd love to, but I don't know the password to gain access to the ship's controls.'

'Hmph, fine. Listen closely, it's called 'Maria', M, A, R, I, A! Got it?'

'Loud and clear, doc. Leave it to me.' She then heard noise over the transmitter and distanced her ear from it as Eggman screamed apparently. 'NO! STOP! GAAAH!'

Turning off the transmitter, she smiled as she activated the control panel in the central control room. 'Heh, tricking that old doctor is so easy, my fee is almost a crime. Now, time to get to work. M, A, R, I, A. Hmm, Maria…didn't Shadow mumble that name on occasion? Nevermind, let's see what I can dig up…Project Shadow…'

'Are we in space yet?' Amy had her eyes closed and she slipped them open a tiny bit, and much to her amazement, they really were in space, accelerating through small asteroid chunks as Tails piloted the shuttle. 'Wow! We're in space!' She admired the view, and wanted to remove the seatbelt and watch the stars with Sonic, but she realized there were more pressing matters right now, and she looked towards what seemed to be a large spherical spaceship with Eggman's face underneath it, and the rest looked at it as well as they approached it.

'So this is that space colony where Eggman used that giant laser cannon from.' Sonic remarked, but he quickly looked in front of him and saw a large asteroid approaching them. 'Tails! Watch where you're flying!'

'Wha-WHOA!' He barely managed to avoid crashing completely in it, and bumped against it from the top, shaking everybody around from the impact.

'Is everyone okay?' Tails asked as he shrugged his head off, and regained control.

'Yeah, I'm still in one piece…huh?' Knuckles saw something and removed his seatbelt to see it from up close, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a few shining green stones along with something large and purple drift off in the direction of the ARK. 'AH! The Master Emerald Shards! They're drifting in the direction of the space colony! Grr, thanks a lot, Tails!' Sonic tried to calm him down. 'Aw, don't sweat it, Knuckles, we'll get them back!' But the echidna was too angry to listen to reasoning, and grabbed the control panel over from Tails. 'Get away, Tails!'

'Knuckles, whaddya doing?' Sonic got up and wrestled over the controls with Knuckles. 'We're gonna die if you keep this up! Let go!' Knuckles pushed him aside, and pressed on a random button. 'Let me out! Is this the emergency exit switch?' They suddenly increased speed and spiraled towards the ARK. 'No, those are the engine boosts! As they were about to crash into the ARK, they all screamed at the top of their lungs, with Amy's being the loudest. 'WHAAAAAAAA!'

'What? What's this?' Rouge looked at something concerning her research. 'Prototype?' She then saw that the monitor set off a alarm as a it showed that a shuttle has crashed through one of the large windows on the ARK. 'They've arrived here rather quickly. And at the wrong time too.' She sighed. But she looked up when she noticed on one of the monitors that certain green shards landed on a nearby facility not far off from the outside of the ARK. 'Hmm, it seems bo be my lucky day. Time to grab those shards and beat that echidna to the punch!'

'Uwooh…everyone alright?' Sonic shook his head as he got up, checking up on Tails and Amy, who both also got up, a bit dizzy, but quickly recovered. 'Yeah, I think so…' 'Ohh, my head.' They opened the door and went to the cargo area, where they noticed that it's roof hatch was open, most likely caused when they crashed against the large asteroid. 'Ah, so that's how those shards went off into space, huh?' Tails saw that the Cyclone was still standing there thankfully undamaged as he had the machine strapped tightly against the wall before they took off, and went inside it.

They stepped outside the shuttle and noticed that they were inside the colony now. 'Wow, we're inside that thing!' Sonic looked around.

'This is that space colony?' Amy questioned him. Tails nodded. 'Uh-huh. From what I've managed to gather, this was the first space colony that was successfully build, and launched into space by mankind, ARK. Back in it's day, it used to be the most advanced research center in existence, but it was apparently shut down over 50 years ago, because of a fatal accident.'

Ah, so that would explain the dust here…' Amy looked around with a slight disgusted look on her face. Sonic checked the area quickly. 'Hey, has anybody seen that knucklehead around here? I wanna thank him for nearly getting us killed!'

Tails raised his shoulders. 'Looks like he bailed in search of those shards. But Knuckles can take care of himself, we have to destroy that weapon before Eggman gets chance to fire it again!' Tails noticed a monitor and stepped out of his mech quickly to boot it up. 'Let's see…ah! Here's a map of the ARK!' Sonic and Amy stood beside him. 'Bingo, there's the control room of that weapon, apparently called the 'Eclipse Cannon.'

'Well, what are we waiting for? Time to smash that thing!' Sonic was about to rush off, but Tails wasn't finished talking. 'Wait, Sonic! Someone apparently put a electric barrier on the door leading to the room…I doubt if I can hack into the system, so I'm going to try and find the generator for it and destroy it, then it's your turn! Oh, and I think you'll need this, too!'

He climbed back into the Cyclone, and pulled out a small chest, opening it up and revealed a Chaos Emerald, and pulled another one from the Cyclone's seat as well. 'What… two yellow Chaos Emeralds?' Amy rubbed her eyes to check if she wasn't seeing double. 'Tails, are you some kind of magician?'

'Heheh, no, but it looks like a real one, doesn't it? The one I'm holding in my left hand is a copy that I made before we left the workshop this morning. It's designed to interfere with any machinery it comes into contact with, and short-circuit it. It has some power of the real one, but only because of some engineering I put into it. It looks so real, I doubt that a machine, even from Eggman, could tell the difference.'

Sonic grabbed it and whistled. 'Wow, you really outdid yourself, Tails! Lemme guess the plan, after you destroy the power supply, I go into the room and put the fake one in that machine, and crush Eggman's dreams, right?'

'You got it! Oh, and we'll keep into contact with these transmitters!' Tails handed over one to Sonic, and turned his attention to Amy. 'Amy, I'm sorry, but this is going to be dangerous, so it's best if you stay back here and wait near the shuttle, alright?' Amy wanted to protest, but seeing as she didn't want be a hindrance in Tails' plan, especially at this point, agreed to it. 'Okay…but pull it off, quickly, alright?'

'Heh, no problem, Amy. Speed is my trademark!' Sonic rushed ahead as Tails followed suit. Amy sat down on the floor and sighed. 'They always get to have all the fun, blowing up stuff and all…'

'Ah…*wheeze* Eggman was tiring out as the Egg Golem was catching up with him. 'What a fate….to be crushed by your own creation…' Though out of nowhere, something speeded into the robot's AI sphere and it exploded, making it fall on the ground, barely missing Eggman. 'Whoa! What the…Shadow!' The black hedgehog dusted off his arms. 'Looks like you needed some help.' Eggman rushed immediately back to his private quarters, and once there, he put out a scan of the colony's interior. 'Darn it! What's Rouge doing up there? She should have disposed of those annoyances by now!' He noticed something strange on the screen. 'What's this? …Odd, I'm getting energy readings from two separate Chaos Emeralds there!' He deduced that they were plotting something while stroking his mustache. 'Hmph, they think they can fool me with a fake one? But which one is it…' Shadow was about to step on the transporter device, when Eggman suddenly called out to him.

'Wait a second, Shadow! I will finish this, with my own two hands!' He pressed a switch and the Eggmobile came down transforming in it's battle mech formation once more. 'I've been made a fool of for far too long by that annoying blue hedgehog and those friends of his! I will finally show them, once and for all, that Ivo Robotnik isn't one to be taken lightly!' He stepped in it and rushed to the transporter with determination, Shadow stepping aside somewhat baffled at this sudden serious display of the doctor. 'If I don't succeed in my mission, I'm counting on you to finish it!' The hedgehog nodded, and Eggman activated the transporter.

At the same time, not far outside of the ARK, on a small mining facility, Knuckles was searching around the area as he found the 6th shard. 'And another one…only a few more…'

'Hello there, echidna.' He recognized that voice and turned around putting his dukes up, looking at the bat sitting on a platform that was higher up in the center. 'Ah, there you are. Good timing, now give me back that shard you found, and also all the other ones you might have with you, and quickly!' She laughed at him in a taunting manner. 'Hahaha, that's a good one, returning the shards to you. Here's a better idea. How about you give me all the shards you have, so I can finally have my hands on that gorgeous gem and carry on with my mission!'

'Alright, you asked for it, bat girl!' Knuckles jumped to the platform and delivered a punch to her, which she easily evaded, but he kept his offense up putting pressure on her. Knuckles could see that she was slowly having trouble blocking and dodging his punches. 'Not trained in endurance, eh?' Rouge did see a opening eventually and kicked him in the left leg. 'Nrrgh!' He ignored the pain and punched her quickly in the shoulder, causing her to flinch and back off, unaware that she was standing near a opened energy melting pit. 'You have some nerve, punching a lady like that!'

Knuckles chuckled and approached her. 'Yeah right, a real lady wouldn't try to steal stuff that doesn't belong to them!' Rouge tried to keep distance, but lost her footing. 'I can't hel-Ah!' She was caught off guard and briefly in shock as she tumbled towards the liquid energy, but quickly felt something pinch in her left wing, and got her senses back. 'Ouch! Wha…why am I hovering in the air?' She felt around her left wing and removed what was lodged in it and flapped her wings to go up higher slowly. She could just barely see that whatever it was that prevented her from falling down, it went up sky-high at a great speed.

'Hey, are you alright?' She felt something grabbing her hand and pulling her up over the edge, and saw it was that echidna. Helping her up on the ground, they looked for a split second at each other, before she snapped back to her senses, and pulled her hand away from his grasp. 'Keep your hands off me! First you attack me and then you try to help me?' Knuckles was bewildered at her sudden change of tone. 'Hey, if you just gave the those shards, this wouldn't have happened in the first place, besides, I didn't do it for you, I did it for those shards, got it?' She sneered at him. 'Pfft, yeah right. Just be honest with me. You just wanted to get a chance at holding my hand, didn't you?'

His eyes widened. 'What? Listen up, bat girl! If you don't give me those shards right now I'll-'

'Yeah yeah, you really want those shards, don't you?' Rouge interrupted him. 'Fine, I guess it really is that important to you then.' She pulled out the remaining 4 pieces out of her suit, and threw them on the ground towards him. 'Here, you want them? Take them. Besides, they have your awful stench on them.' Knuckles picked them up and got the rest of the shards together as well. 'If that's what you thought, you should have given them back to me in the first place!'

The shards resonated together and in a bright flash formed together, the giant big green emerald restored to it's original form, Knuckles smiling as he picked it up. 'Finally!' He was about to run off with it. 'Ahem!' Turning his head, he saw the bat girl looking irritated at him. 'Aren't you supposed to say something?' Grumbling, he mumbled: '…Thank you…and sorry if I hurt you…miss…uh….'

'Rouge', she added. He ran off with his parting words: 'Knuckles.' She kept looking as he disappeared back inside the ARK, and she snapped out of her thoughts. 'Ah! I gotta get back to work! Can't let my other reward slip away!'

Just as she went off as well, someone was talking sitting on one of the tall pillars atop the energy melting pit. 'That was a nice catch, wasn't it, Froggy? Let's see if there's any space fish out here.'

Amy was tapping her foot impatiently on the ground as she stepped out of the shuttle and looked through another window at the Earth. 'Oh, aren't they done yet? I want to get off this creepy place.' But she was caught off guard as she heard a door opening up very close in her vicinity and a familiar figure pointing a gun at her. 'Well well, if it isn't Amy!' Her face turned white and barely managed to stutter out: 'Do-Dr. E-Eggman?…'

He kept pointing it at her face and demanded in a threatening tone: 'If you value your life, you'll tell me where Sonic and Tails are, RIGHT NOW!'

Sonic saw the lactic barrier disappear as he waited in front of the door. 'Looks like Tails succeeded on his end, and heard his voice over the transmitter for confirmation. 'Okay, it's done, Sonic. Now get in there and insert that Emerald in the machine!' He dashed inside and saw that nobody was around, so he saw his chance clean, and approached up the stairs towards where he saw a control panel along with the rest of the 6 Chaos Emeralds in various slots. He was about to try and pull one of them out, when he suddenly heard voices over the transmitter.

'Sonic! Eggman is here, and-'

'Listen up, Tails! Tell Sonic to stop immediately with what he's doing in that control room, and to get his furry hide over to the research center, on the double!'

Sonic shrugged it off, thinking: 'That Egghead's full of steam, I'll insert this baby and then deal with him.' But was stopped as he then heard Tails shouting over the transmitter.

'Sonic! Eggman isn't kidding! He has Amy held at gunpoint and threatens to kill her if you don't get there immediately. Hurry!'

Sonic stomped on the floor when he heard that news. 'Darn it, just when I thought things were going to be easy for once…Amy, she's such a pain sometimes…but I guess it's time to return the favor.'

Rouge hided around the corner as she saw that a blue hedgehog dashed out of the control room, and once out of sight, she rushed back inside. 'Darn, he managed to disable that barrier…ah, but the monitor and the Emeralds are still there! Good!' She walked up to a nearby screen in one of the corners and resumed what she was looking up earlier. 'Project Shadow…time to document this and then print it out.'

Amy was frozen stiff as she was still held at gunpoint silently by the doctor still seated in his mech, and Tails was sitting in the Cyclone facing them, both their hearts pounding loudly in their chests. The silence was broken when they heard a door opening, and Sonic entered through it. 'Sonic!' Tails was relieved, but resumed his focus on the threat.

'Okay, Eggman, here I am, so whaddya want?' Sonic remained cool even in this situation.

'Well Sonic, for starters, how about you walk to the center of that spot there, and put down that Chaos Emerald on the floor.' Eggman pointed with his free hand Then we'll talk further about your girlfriend, that is, if you really care for her safety!'

Sonic thought in himself as he slowly walked forward. 'He doesn't seem to know that the Emerald I'm holding is a fake…I can kill two birds with one stone this way.' he tried to compliment Eggman so as to not raise any suspiciousness on his end.

'Well doc, I gotta say, you're finally being competent for once!' Sonic placed the Emerald in the center of a circular area, and planned to back off, but much to everybody's surprise the doctor pressed on a switch of a panel behind him, and before he could act, Sonic was trapped in a capsule that fell from above with a bomb rigged on it. 'Ah!'

Both Tails and Amy shouted in unison: 'Sonic!'

He tried to spindash his way out of it, but the glass was very thick and impossible to break. '

'You thought you could trick me with that fake Emerald, didn't you?' Eggman grinned, much to Tails' shock.

'W-what? But how did you…'

'Heheh, why else would Sonic walk into the control room with the real Chaos Emerald? Not to insert it and help me complete my plan, that's for sure!' He moved his hand to another button, and hovered a finger on top of it. 'And now it's time for a one-way ticket into space, Sonic! The capsule clears the colony, and BAM! It's all over! Got any last words?'

Sonic shouted through the glass bonking: 'Grr….Tails, I'm counting on you! Amy! Take care of yourself!' Both looked with denial about Eggman's words to the hedgehog, and Amy ignored the gun Eggman pointed at her and tried to push him away acting out of impulse. 'No! I won't let you do this!' But she wasn't physically strong, and Eggman tossed her away. 'Grr! You brat, enough of this! Goodbye, Sonic!' He pressed the button quickly and it ejected out into space, the three looking through the glass floor as it speeded towards the Earth.

'Shoot! What am I gonna do now?' Sonic noticed the fake emerald lying at his feet, and he picked it up, quickly thinking about a solution, and thought back on his first encounter with Shadow, as he warped away in front of his eyes. 'What did he say again? Chaos Control?'

And within mere seconds, the capsule exploded in a flash, leaving Tails looking at the controls in front of him, tears forming from his eye corners. Amy screamed pounding her fists against the glass. 'SONIIIIC! NOOO!' She kneeled on the floor and covered her face with her hands as tears flowed through the fingers.

Somewhere else a bit earlier, Shadow also emerged from the transportation platform and looked at the capsule ejected in space, catching a glimpse of the blue hedgehog trapped inside before it exploded. 'Hm…guess he's out of the picture.'

Eggman wasn't so emotionally distraught and put the gun away, cackling. 'Hahaha! That hedgehog is finally out of the picture! Victory!' Moving with his mech in Tails' direction. 'Listen up. I'm in a good mood now, so here's a proposition: If you give me the real Emerald, I'll let both you and that girl walk out of here with your lives intact. You'll have my word on it!'

There was a brief silence, until there was the sudden sound of gunfire coming from the Cyclone towards Eggman, and he barely dodged. 'Ah!'

'You think you can just bargain with us like that? Sonic was my best friend, and you just killed him like it was nothing! I won't forget this, Eggman!' He shouted towards him wiping his tears off his face and prepared to fire off more rounds at him.

'So that's how it's going to be? Fine! First I'll finish off the gi-wha?' He pulled out the gun again and pointed it towards where he thought Amy was, but she was gone, and he looked around him in confusion. 'Where did-GAH!' Out of nowhere, he was whacked from behind on his head, falling out of the cockpit. 'My head! Oof!' He rubbed his head in pain, but was quickly smashed against the stomach, flying against his mech making it tumble over and he grunted in agony. 'Haah…what the…' He then saw what hit him and his face turned white as Amy dashed towards him preparing to smash him with her hammer again, her eyes burning with vengeance, and he barely got up and rAN across the room, screaming in panic. 'YOU KILLED SONIC! GAAAH! NO MERCY! NO FORGIVENESS! WRAAAAH!' She screamed equally as loud as she swinged her hammer in rage while chasing him, Eggman barely evading her smashes that were probably so strong that they could break bones.

Tails was speechless as he watched the chase in front of his eyes, surprised beyond belief.

At that very same time, elsewhere within the colony, Knuckles was searching around still holding the Master Emerald. 'Which way was it to the shuttle again? Huh…what's going on? Whoa!' He saw a bright flash in front of him and covered his eyes, opening them after it diminished, and was surprised to see Sonic lying on the floor as if it seemed that he was unconscious. 'Sonic?' He walked over to him and rubbed his head. 'Hey, wake up!'

The hedgehog opened his eyes, and was dazed as he mumbled: 'Ah…did it work?'

'Sonic, can you stand up? What happened?' Knuckles helped him up on his feet grabbing him under his arms until he steadied his feet on the ground.

'Yeah…I'm alright…somehow I managed to use Chaos Control.' Shrugging his head to regain his senses.

'Chaos Control? What are you talking about?' Sonic grabbed the fake Emerald up from the ground, and wobbled in a direction.

'Eggman trapped me and nearly got me blasted into pieces…but there's no time to explain things. Knuckles, can you head inside the ARK and give Amy and Tails a hand? I've got work to do!' Sonic looked in a direction.

'Sure, but…what are you up to?' Sonic grinned and dashed off after saying: 'Plan A failed, so time for Plan B. I'll dash to that Eclipse Cannon and slam dunk it in at super speed!'

Knuckles scratched his but ran off in a separate direction with the Master Emerald.

Rouge was just finished printing out a documentary, and walked to the control panel of the Eclipse Cannon. 'Look at that, 6 lovely Chaos Emeralds. Time to take them as added interest and hightail it-'

'Keep your hands off them.' She turned around and saw that Shadow entered the room, looking at her with a threatening expression.

'Shadow? What are you doing here?' Rouge stood still on the platform.

'You know, I always thought there was something odd about how 'precisely' you were informed about the locations of the Chaos Emeralds, so I did some research at the doc's base computer of my own. Tell me, did you know it from your connections within GUN or was it thanks to the help of that President, Rouge the Bat, freelance federal agent?'

Rouge smiled keeping her cool despite her cover being blown. 'So, you did your homework, is that all you wanted to tell me? I'd say that is a invasion of privacy.'

"I can say the same thing about you with that paper you're holding there.' Shadow walked closer to her.

'Hmph, I did what was assigned to me, to find out about this 'Project Shadow', so now that I'm done, I guess that I'll grab these Emeralds and get out of this place.'

'Typical for someone using a fake identity!' A glint formed in Rouge's eyes.

'Ironic for you to say such things.' Shadow raised a eyebrow. 'What do you mean?'

She was now practically in front of him and showed him the printed document. 'This is what I've managed to gather from the ARK's main database and put together in this nice little piece of paper about the subject of 'Project Shadow: The Ultimate Lifeform.' From what the database showed me, all it amounted to was the creation of a creature who would have Chaos essence running through it's veins…but the only successful stage was that of a lizard enhanced by Chaos Drive energy, but the project was scrapped due to it being uncontrollable. Nothing was ever mentioned of a black hedgehog. So if this report is what the databank shows as the truth…then what exactly is standing here in front of me, using the same name as that top secret project?'

Shadow sneered at what Rouge told him. 'That's your discovery? Sorry to break this to you, but that isn't the full story.'

'What? But it said so in the data-base…'

'I'll give you a hint. It's the prototype. Something else was created after that.'

'Huh? How would you know that?'

'Take a guess…'

Eggman ran into another room, his heart skipping several beats as he hided under a panel now, but heard a alarm going off, and looked up to see that something was approaching the interior of the Eclipse Cannon. He put on the transmitter and whispered into it.

Shadow's transmitter in his hands was beeping, and he answered with a simple 'yes?'

'Shadow, something is approaching the Eclipse Cannon from the inside, deal with it before it can possibly demolish it! G-gah! Ouch! No!'

'Feel free to report that document to the President, and run home for all I care, but if you take those Chaos Emeralds out of the slots, I WILL find you.' Shadow turned around preparing to leave, but he still heard her questioning him. 'Wait… even if you really are the final result of Project Shadow, how come it wasn't recorded? And what are you planning to do with those Emeralds?'

'…That's a secret I won't share with anybody. And I have a mission to complete. Remember my warning, bat.' He dashed out at top speed leaving Rouge with more questions.

As he ran through a hallway leading to the internal mechanisms of the Eclipse Cannon, Sonic increased his speed, thoughts rushing through his mind. 'Can't waste any time, can't predict when that-' He felt something behind him, and jumped up avoiding several lightning spears aimed at him. 'That attack, it must be him.' He kept on running and suddenly saw something teleporting besides him and skating at equal speed. 'You know, you never cease to be a nuisance to me. But I do wonder one thing…how did you escape from that capsule?'

Sonic grinned and showed off the fake Emerald. 'Heh, you wanna know something really ironic? You actually saved me by showing that move in front of my eyes 2 days ago. And I even managed to do it with this fake Chaos Emerald here.'

'What? but you shouldn't be able to use Chaos Control…even with a fake Emerald!' Shadow was actually surprised and increased his speed as did Sonic. 'Who in the world are you?'

'Heh, I'm no one special…just a guy who loves to be free and wild, Sonic the Hedgehog!'

'I see…well, Sonic…' his mouth slowly turned into a devious grin. 'It's been fun, but here's where your little trip ends! No one will stop me from carrying out my mission!'

'Mission?' He thought as he saw Shadow trying to slide right into him from the side, but he jumped up and kept on running, determined to get to the Eclipse Cannon at all costs.'

'Chaos Control!' Sonic knew that he was going to warp and appear before him somehow, and anticipated it. He saw a flash appear right before him, and barely ducked to dodge a punch from the black hedgehog, and countered it with a Spin Dash right against his chin, launching him up, but he recovered quickly and chased after him the old-fashioned way using his air shoes to their maximum capability, and was slowly catching up with him just as he was approaching what seemed to be the internal mechanisms of the Eclipse Cannon.

'Grr, he doesn't know when to give up, eh? In that case…' Sonic came to a screeching halt and launched his fist as he turned around, surprising Shadow's expectations and felt a hard punch hitting him squarely in the jaw, hard enough that it knocked him into the side of the hallway and was dazed. 'Sorry Shadow, but I got my mission to complete as well!' He grinned as he took Shadow's transmitter and pressed the button while coming closer to the cannon...

A bit earlier...

Eggman was breathing desperately for air now with both Tails and a furious Amy on his tail, and opened up another door, but was surprised as he saw who approached from the other side, and halted. 'K-Knuckles?'

'Eggman?' He grinned as he clenched his fists. 'I still haven't forgotten your attempt to steal the-huh?' Eggman kneeled in front of him. 'Please! Stop Amy, or she'll kill me!' He heard screaming coming closer, and crawled like a baby behind the red echidna. Even Knuckles was surprised when he saw Amy smashing through the door in anger as it opened up too slowly for her, and saw her and Tails approaching then. 'Amy, what's wrong?'

'Move aside, Knuckles! I'm going to take revenge for Sonic's death here and now.' She approached them, but Knuckles interrupted her. 'Sonic's death? I saw him awhile ago just fine!'

'Wha…' She grabbed Knuckles by his chest and lifted him up. 'Knuckles, if this is a joke…' Tails approached her on foot and tried to reason with her. 'Amy, calm down!' But then all of a sudden, they heard a voice over the transmitter he was holding and all 4 of them looked at it. 'Hello? Tails, you there?'

They recognized the voice instantly and Tails answered it. 'Sonic? Is it really you?'

'Sure is, pal! Hey, take a look through the window!' Tails and Amy felt relieved, the latter letting go of Knuckles. 'Sonic…is alive? YES! Oh, sorry Knuckles.' but quickly looked through one of the side windows with Knuckles joining them. But while they let their guard down, Eggman saw his chance, and noticed the Chaos Emerald that Tails in his excitement over hearing Sonic's voice dropped on the floor, and quietly picked it up as he left the facility…

The 3 looked outside and noticed that explosions were coming from the pointy object in the middle, the shield being blown off and revealing it to be a large cannon, malfunctioning beyond repair, and after the last blast, they heard the transmitter talk again. 'Awesome Emerald you created there, it sure did the job! Can ya see me?' They looked closely trying to spot the person who they thought was talking to them, and Amy's face beamed as she pointed towards something hanging onto a steel bar. He gave them a thumbs-up as he sledded back down to the surface. 'SONIC!'

But only then did they realize as they turned around, that Eggman was gone, and so was the Chaos Emerald, Tails noticing it first. 'Oh no! The Chaos Emerald!'

Eggman rushed towards the control room, laughing as he kept thinking about having finally accomplished his goal. 'Ha…hahaha….hahahahaha!' He entered the control room for the Eclipse Cannon, unaware of what just happened, and grinned as he putted in the last Chaos Emerald in the slot. 'It's over, and I win! Sorry, Mr. President, but this marks the beginning of the era of the Eggman Empire!' He pressed on the fire button with a fist, imagining his empire in his dreams.

'Hahahaha!' Huh?' He looked at the control panel, which was somehow shut off, and he kept pressing the button in frustration. 'Fire! Fire! Why won't the cannon fire?' He fell from the stairs in surprise as suddenly the screen started to glow red and make a alarm noise. Getting up, he climbed back up and looked at the monitor. 'What the…what's going on here?' He was then shocked as he saw a familiar face appear in the screen. 'G-Grandfather?'

Sonic approached Shadow who was regaining his senses. 'Okay Shadow. Tell me, what mission are you talking about? Whoa!' He suddenly felt the ARK vibrate and focussed on keeping his footing. 'What's going on?' Shadow smiled. 'It has begun…my mission is complete, professor!' Shadow laughed softly as he warped away, just Sonic was going to grab him. 'Grrr…I gotta find the others!' And dashed off.

Knuckles, Tails and Amy also felt the vibration as they tried to chase after Eggman, and fell to the ground. 'Whaaa!' They got up after it stopped, and Tails rubbed his head. 'What happened?' Sonic entered the room they were in and was relieved. 'Ah there you are guys!' 'Sonic!' Amy was happy to see her hero alive, but was wondering what that vibration meant. And suddenly they heard another voice screaming as it came closer to where they were. 'Shh! Someone's coming.' Sonic whispered as they kept quiet until they heard the door open, and were surprised as they saw a familiar-looking big purple feline panicking holding a frog. 'We gotta get outta here, Froggy!'

'Big?' Sonic shouted widening his eyes. The large cat noticed him when he called his name, and stood still. 'Huh? Hey! You're that blue guy who helped me get Froggy back! Uh…what was your name again?'

'Sonic.' He smiled faintly. 'Ah, now I remember!'

Knuckles tapped him on the shoulder. 'Hey Sonic, who's this guy?'

'Don't worry, Knuckles, he's not a bad guy. I met him back on the Egg Carrier.' He turned his attention to Big. 'Big…how'd you get here?' The large feline scratched his head thinking about it. 'Let me see…I was fishing in the desert when Froggy saw you flying in the air, and Froggy and I wanted to say hello, when you entered that pyramid, so we followed you into that space rocket thing because Froggy was getting hungry. Then we got into space and landed on this thing. We tried to fish for food there, but no luck…and now this thing is shaking and Froggy and I don't know what it's all about!'

'We'd like to wonder what it's all about too.' Sonic remarked, when he suddenly saw someone enter the room.

'Rouge? What are you doing here?' Knuckles said in her direction.

'I've got bad news…I tried to get back to the surface with a space transporter when suddenly the ARK vibrated and it stopped working. Then I received a call from my boss with shocking news…this space colony, ARK, is accelerating towards Earth building up speed. It will most likely impact the Earth.' She then looked at a monitor behind them, as did everyone else, noticing a person similar to Dr. Eggman in appearance with a light underneath him, and with strange writing behind him on a gray wall and a timer on the top left corner of the screen counting down.

And not just on ARK, every TV on the Earth was broadcasting that screen as well, and everybody was terrified, including the President. 'What the…who is that?'

'This is a death sentence to every human being on Earth. If this message is played, then my plan has succeeded. The program that I created will be activated once all the seven Chaos Emeralds are placed in the Eclipse Cannon, and will accelerate the space colony ARK towards the Earth at top speed. If my calculations are correct, the ARK will impact the Earth in 27 minutes, and 53 seconds. All of you ungrateful, vile humans, will feel the sorrow, the despair, and pain that I felt when the military, the very people you put your trust in to protect you in times of danger, shot my beloved granddaughter dead in cold blood! Lament your fate, for this program cannot be disabled. …All of you will die, along with your beloved planet Earth! Finally…JUSTICE!'

Sonic and the others were speechless when the message ended and the timer fully appeared on the screen. Amy was the first to break the eerie silence. 'Who was that creep?'

'Hey, I recognize that writing. It was in the same cell I stayed in back at Prison Island.' Sonic pointed towards the screen.

'Was he imprisoned on that island as well?' Tails wondered.

'That ''creep' was Professor Gerald Robotnik. One of the greatest and most famous scientific minds in the world's history! And my grandfather!' Eggman explained as he was approaching them.

Knuckles glared at him. 'What? That would explain everything about you, Eggman!'

'How DARE you compare me to him?' Eggman shouted back at him.

'Enough!' Sonic looked at his nemesis. 'Eggman, do you know anything about all this?'

"Hmph, pretty persistent for a hedgehog. I should have known that you would survive that blast!'

'Heh, no offense, but Knuckles taking over the shuttle controls and crashing us in here was more dangerous than you could ever be.' 'What?' Knuckles shouted.

'Enough!' Amy shouted through the whole room grabbing everybody's attention. 'We don't have time to be arguing. Dr. Eggman, if you know anything, tell us.'

'Ah, yes. I have something that might. Follow me!' They followed suit as they arrived at the Egg Walker that Eggman fell out of, and searched in it until he found it. 'Got it.' He approached a nearby monitor and inserted the disk. Tails wondered what it was. 'What is it?' Followed by Eggman typing in several buttons. 'This is my grandfather's diary from 50 years ago that I found at Prison Island, but the data was damaged. In my free time I was actually working on restoring some of the data and I just completed it, planning to look at it fully after I conquered the world, but now that it has come to this…' He pressed on a button and the recorded voice program started to play off. 'Let's see if there's some light to be shed on this.' They were all silent and listened to what it said.

'November 25, the President requests me to join a carefully selected group of scientists to join their latest project, the first space colony to be launched into space, meant to observe space and to research and develop advanced technology and discoveries, scheduled to return to Earth about 3 months later. I accepted it.

November 26, I have received a message from my daughter that her own child, Maria, has been diagnosed with NIDS, a disease that has been reported to be fatal at a unknown point in a person's life, and for which there hasn't been invented a cure yet…I have received permission from the President to allow Maria on board the ARK as a special exception so that I can work on finding a cure for her, and promised her parents to watch over her.

November 29, the ARK's launch has been a success, and we accustomed ourselves to our new living quarters quickly, although my granddaughter is experiencing difficulties adjusting, since she's naturally nervous about being in space and has no children of around her age to make friends with. I'll keep a close eye on here.

December 1, we have finished establishing equipment, and I have volunteered to type in and send the daily reports to send to the government to keep them updated about our projects.

December 2, the President requests me with development of new advanced weapons to enhance the nation's safety. One of the most notable requests is a cannon powerful enough to destroy large meteorites in order to protect the Earth's atmosphere…I doubt if this can be build, but I will discuss it with my colleagues

December 5, the weapons development is processing without much trouble…but the matter of Maria's illness still troubles me. Biologist experts have been unable to deduce a cure out of a sample of her blood…Maybe…if we can use the energy of the Chaos Drive power source, made from energy tapped off the Chaos Emeralds and put in small capsules, there can be a possibility.

December 6, After much reconsideration, we have started a secret project unknown from the government, with as goal to create a being with Chaos Emerald essence flowing in it's blood stream, from which we can possibly find a cure for my granddaughter, and for all other children on the planet contracted with NIDS. We have decided to call it 'Project Shadow.' A creation of a ultimate life form…can we do it?

December 7, We have decided to inject a small infant lizard with a dose of Chaos Drive energy. It shows clear signs of being unable to breathe in enough oxygen as a result, so we have build a microscopic life support system and implanted it on it's back that will grow with it's size to keep it alive.

December 9, the lizard has grown abnormally large and shows aggressive behavior as a result of degenerating brain cells, we fear that we can't safely research it anymore, and have decided to put it in suspended sleep and seal it away in the ARK, so that we might find some results when we return to Earth with backup.

December 10, I have come up with a alternative method: What if the host was a creature that has been infused with Chaos Drive energy from birth? It might be dangerous like the lizard incident, but I won't desist my research into this.

December 11, I have taken the responsibility of this project upon myself, and I have managed to engineer a embryo of a hedgehog out of our sample room with Chaos Essence from one of the Drives infused in it. I have chosen the species to be that of a hedgehog because of rumors that hedgehogs might be the most capable of handling this energy. I will await it's development.

December 12, I am astounded! In a mere day, the hedgehog, apparently a male, has grown to the physical form of that of someone around the age of 10, maybe it's similar to the rapid growth of the lizard? I have tried to communicate with it, and it seems docile. It's color is black with some shades of red as well, but wether it's a result of the Chaos essence, I don't know. I have decided to name him after the project: Shadow.

December 13, It's now the age of someone around 15, and it could speak words! I released it and it was curious to learn things. I have developed some kind of bond with Shadow, and decided to teach him speech, how to eat, all manners of everyday social interactivity.

December 14, It learns so fast, my mind can't comprehend it. I have decided to introduce Shadow, confident for him to interact with other beings safely, to Maria. The two seem to take a liking to each other almost instantly, and I feel relieved that she has someone of about her physical age to bond with.

December 15, Shadow seems to be undergoing strange developments. On the positive side, he told me has learned many things from Maria, and he truly seems to be happy. He has no objections when I asked to take samples of his blood for research either. But on the other side… he hasn't undergone any sudden physical growths today either. Worse, he nearly fainted when he tried to demonstrate me his newfound powers from within, among them being able to warp in the chamber. I've given him specially designed shoes and rings to wear on his wrists to absorb the power and keep them in check. But my worst fear is…what if the government would find out about his existence? They'd want to exploit and use him as a weapon. On a side note, none of my colleagues have managed to find any progress regarding the other projects. I reported as such to the government the past several days while keeping Shadow's existence in the dark.

December 18, It's terrible…the government has send military troops to the colony without warning. They arrested me and I'm imprisoned for reasons unknown. I told Shadow to flee with Maria using the escape pods…Maria, Shadow, and my colleagues at the ARK...please, be safe…'

December 19, the guards told me that the President was convinced that I tried to revolt against the government using the weapons developed on ARK because of a lack of updates. They told me that they found a escape pod from the ARK on the land and brought it to the base where I'm being kept…can it be…Shadow?'

December 20, They confirmed that the creature in the pod looks like a black hedgehog. It must be Shadow, but what about Maria? I took a look at list of victims that died when the ARK was shut down…Maria was among them…no…all I wanted to do…was to find a cure for her…but now…she's dead. Dead…I can't think clearly…I need rest….'

December 21, those soldiers were ordered to kill everyone on board the ARK, regardless of rank in order to prevent anybody from leaking the truth about the weapons that were being created there on their orders, and to retrieve any possible functional weapons. And …those dogs! They dare to cover this massacre up by telling the public it was caused because of a accident!

December 22: I have managed to sneak out of my cell…I must reach Shadow…I have plans with him…I must modify the password of the pod to awaken him. Maria...

December 23: It is finished. I have managed to insert messages into Shadow's mind while he's still sleeping in there. I have informed him of a program that I created just now and hidden away, and that when he is released, he is to take it to the ARK and install it, then all it further needs is all of the 7 Chaos Emeralds to be inserted into the Eclipse Cannon, and that he needs to do it at all costs! I won't let Maria's death go unpunished! Shadow will carry out my act of vengeance against them…against all of humanity, and I don't care if the military might execute me sooner or later…I have left my legacy to the world…Shadow, the ultimate life form! The irony…I created something for the betterment of mankind…but now it will serve to bring justice to them!

*click*

'No…how awful…' Amy was the first one to comment on it. But then the group heard typing noises on another monitor by Eggman. 'We can't stand around here any longer! We have to find a way to stop this!'

'Right on, doc!' Sonic looked over his shoulder at the screen as Eggman showed a map of the ARK's interior. 'The program has caused the Chaos Emeralds to be moved to the inner core of the ARK, and they're being used to overpower the whole system! If the colony collides with Earth at this rate, it will plow into the Earth and vaporize it in a giant atomic explosion!'

'We have to remove those Chaos Emeralds then!' Tails tried to point out. 'Isn't there a way to get to the core and do that?'

'There is a way, but it's only accessible in case of emergencies and it's very complex. Besides, did you forget they're overpowering the system? if you touch those Emeralds, you'd be shocked to death in a instant!'

They were silent for a bit, thinking in themselves, until Knuckles got a idea, looking at the Master Emerald next to him. 'I got it! The Master Emerald can neutralize those Emeralds temporarily! If I can do that, that program should be stopped too.'

'Go for it, Knuckles!' Amy encouraged him.

'Alright, be quiet everyone.'

Knuckles closed his eyes and stood close to the Emerald, remembering the ancient phrases that Tikal uttered in her flashback scenes during the events dealing with Chaos.

'The servers are the seven Chaos…Chaos is power, enriched by the heart, the controller is the one that unifies the Chaos…Master Emerald, hear my request, stop the Chaos Emeralds!'

But as they waited, nothing happened. 'Darn! It can't reach the Chaos Emeralds from this distance because of those thick walls!'

',,,Looks like there's only one more option left.' Eggman looked at the monitor once again.

'To that core thing?' Big added, scratching his head.

'Yes. Let's see…like I said, there's a way to the core, but it's very complicated. There are 4 switches that need to be pressed, which are all located in different directions of the ARK according to this map. They will power on the emergency opening to the core, and someone needs to press it!' Eggman explained as he pointed it out.

'Let's see…I think Knuckles should wait at the emergency door to carry the Master Emerald over there right when it opens up, that's step 1.' Tails added but Sonic interrupted him.

'Wait a sec, Tails! I don't think it's safe down there, what if that Shadow guy might be waiting down there to mess things up? I'll go with Knuckles to deal with him should he turn up?'

'You got a point there, Sonic! Alright, so that puts Sonic and Knuckles in their roles…Eggman, where are those switches located?'

'Let's see…according to this, the switches are all levers that should have the 'emergency door supply' label on them! But it seems two of them are in hallways where intruder lasers are detected!'

'Don't worry! I'll get one of them using the Cyclone!' Tails hopped in his mech. 'You can take the other one, Eggman.' But the doctor shrugged his head.

'That's out of the question! There's a safety lock that you'll need to bypass in order to get the door open, and only I with my intellect can figure it out! Besides, I can keep track here of all your movements on the map and point you in the right direction to the switches over the voice transmission option here through the ARK!'

'But…who will do it then?' They were surprised as they suddenly heard Eggman's mech moving about, looking in it's direction.

'Don't worry. Froggy and I will do it!' They couldn't believe what they saw: Big the Cat piloting Eggman's transformed Eggmobile, and he fitted surprisingly inside of it. Eggman planted his face in his hand and shrugged in denial. 'What has the world come to…fine! But don't you dare damage my lovely machine, got it?' 'Got it, hehehe. Come on, Froggy!' The frog croaked and planted itself on Big's head.

'Amy, Rouge, you two take the last ones, got it?' They nodded and Eggman shouted before they left: We only have 20 minutes left, and if we fail, we lose everything!'

All of them proceeded down the doors as fast as they could, and Sonic and Knuckles arrived within 2 minutes at the huge emergency door, waiting for the others.

Rouge used her wings to fly through the hallways, and reached her lever within 2 minutes as well, pressing it. 'Ah, there it is!'

Tails used the Cyclone and boosted it at the maximum, and blasted through the generators and laser traps using his keen aiming, and arrived in another room and saw the lever. 'Got it!'

Big had surprisingly little trouble piloting Eggman's transformed Egg Walker through his part, messing with the controls and blasting the obstacles away through sheer luck, and got to the room they needed to get to thanks to Eggman's constant guiding.

'Is this the room?' Big looked around him noticing a lever, and moved towards it. 'YES! Now pull that lever you dim-witted…Gah!' Doing so, Big mumbled in himself somewhat sad: 'Hey, no need to get so loud…' He noticed another button, and pressed it. 'Oh! What's this-Whoa! Hang on, Froggy!' The Egg Walker transformed back into the Eggmobile and dashed through the hallways at high speed.

Amy ran towards where the lever on her part was, and encountered little obstacles, until she saw what was in front of her. Where she needed to climb down several stairs, she saw that it was flooded with leaked fuel water, and she couldn't see any lever through that water from where she stood. 'Oh no…what if it's too deep that I can't get back up?' Though just as she was in a serious problem, Big came flying in the room and landed on the ground as the Egg Walker crashed against the wall. 'Wah! Watch out!' Big got up and bowed his head. 'I'm sorry.'

She noticed the fishing rod lying on the ground next to Big, and got a idea. 'Hey, your name was Big, right?' He nodded. 'Uh-huh.'

'I'm Amy Rose, I need your help with something.'

'Oh, sure!' He smiled friendly to her.

'I need to dive down there and pull that lever, but the water might be really deep. I need you to be ready with your fishing rod, while I swim down there looking for the lever. When I pull on the reeling line, you'll reel me back up as fast as you can, all right?'

'Got it!' Big nodded and Amy grabbed the line, diving down there. 'Good luck!' He shouted after her before he sat down. 'She's nice.'

Amy held her breath as she dived deeper, being a pretty decent swimmer, and within about 20 seconds reached the bottom where she saw the lever, and pulled it down with pressing her hands against the wall and using her feet as weight to push it down. 'There, now to get up…come on Big!' She yanked on the line twice, and held on as she then zipped to the surface at super speed, Big reeling it in using all his strength, and she got launched upwards, falling on Big's belly with a soft landing. 'Whoa…*wheeze* She breathed for air and smiled to the large feline. 'Thanks, Big.'

'Huhuhuh, no problem.'

Sonic and Knuckles saw the door opening up as Eggman shouted: 'Go! We only have 15 minutes remaining!' Sonic and Knuckles while carrying the Master Emerald over it's head dashed through it and saw a large stream of yellow fuel they could easily waddle through. 'Everything okay, Knux?'

'Yeah, still good.' He responded.

Amy and Big were rushing through the hallway to meet up with Eggman again, when they suddenly saw something in a separate room, a empty small one, and a familiar figure looking out as he watched the Earth getting closer into view. 'Shadow…' Amy whispered to herself. 'Big, go on ahead, I need to talk to him.' 'Okay, be careful, Amy.' Big whispered back before running on ahead with Froggy following him.

She builded up the courage to approach him, and looked at him from the side. 'Shadow! We need your help to stop this! Can't you see this is all wrong?'

He kept looking at the Earth, and coldly responded: 'Wrong? This what you all deserve.'

'Shadow…I've seen the professor's diary…and it's horrible about what happened to that Maria girl…but do you really think that everybody down there, who have no involvement of what happened up here or knowledge of it, deserve this?' She stepped back as Shadow's expression grew furious and shouted to her: 'No involvement? Let me tell you something among those very same lines! Those soldiers killed Maria! A young girl who also had no involvement of anything going on here!' His eyes started to leak tears from the corners of his eyes. 'She was a true friend…she teached me so much about the things down there… All she wanted, was to get back to Earth when she was better…and live happily. But no…one shot in the stomach, and it was over…I fully support the professor's plan.' He turned back and stared down to the Earth once more.

'Shadow! Listen to me!' She pulled his shoulder to force him to look at her, and he punched her arm off him, making her flinch. 'Shadow, there are children like Maria down there…children with similar diseases and perhaps in worse conditions too…I know that some people, like the government back then can be corrupt. But generally people try to make the best of their lives and try to make the Earth a better place. Shadow, you have to realize that the professor's plan was wrong, he was insane when he came up with that. You were close with Maria, right? What would she say about this plan?'

'What Maria would say? Ah!' He felt something in his head, like a huge headache and closed his eyes kneeling on the ground. 'What's…argh…'

He saw that flashback in his memory again, but this time something was different. It showed a vision of him entering a room, filled with escape pods, pulling the girl inside and locked the door, smashing the security panel to buy time. 'Maria! This way!' As they heard loud bonking against the door, they looked at the controls for the escape pods, but he was clueless at what to input. 'I…I don't know how these things work!' He saw that the girl took over and inputted commands. 'Shadow, I saw someone here at work once, I can do this. Get inside, quickly.' He obeyed and entered the pod, thick glass covering around him. 'Quickly you have to come in yours too!' Suddenly gunfire was heard and some bullets managed to pierce the blockade, shocking him as one of them hitted the girl in the stomach, collapsing against the controls. 'MARIA!' He tried to punch through the glass, but it was of no use. She managed to stand up and hovered her hand above the button to eject him, shaking with color fading from her face.

'Ah…I won't be able…t-to make it down there…promise me…that you'll live a happy life down there…that's my wish for…you….S-Shadow.' He could still see her collapse to the ground before he was ejected.

'That's what she…wanted?' Shadow slowly got up, and looked at the Earth with his hands pressed against the glass. 'Down there?'

'Huh? Are you alright?' Amy tried to reach for him, but he turned around and dashed at full speed. 'There's no more time to lose! Only 12 minutes left!'

The room Sonic and Knuckles arrived in after threading the hip-deep fuel water was huge, and they could see a gigantic mechanical device making loud noises as it was apparently overheating and was connected by the Chaos Emeralds surrounding it in the air. 'There we are, Knuckles! Can you do it from this range?'

Knuckles putted the giant gem on the ground. 'I think so!' He closed his eyes and began the process again.

'The servers are the seven Cha-whoa!' They suddenly felt the entire room shake, as something in the roof was beginning to crack. 'What the…' Before they could think about it, something broke through the roof of the room, and fell with a ground-shaking thud on the floor. As they got up, they gasped in what stood before them, erupting a loud roar that almost made them cover their ears in pain: A giant orange-colored mutated lizard.

'…is that the lizard that was used as the prototype for the project?' Knuckles looked at it's size, but the creature immediately attacked by attempting to chomp on them, and Knuckles jumped on it's snout punching it in the eyes . Roaring in pain, it rammed it's head against the wall, hurting Knuckles as well, falling to the ground. The Biolizard attempted to bite on Knuckles for lunch but Sonic interfered by spindashing from below it's long neck, managing to make it arch upwards, but it was intelligent enough to figure out a counterattack and bashed Sonic away with it's long tail, and he fell in the water as well, the monster lunged at Sonic now instead, but it was quickly interrupted by a energy spear straight in it's left eye damaging it permanently, making it writhe in pain. Sonic and Knuckles got up while they got the chance, and saw Shadow dashing inside.

'Urgh, so you want to finish us off yourself, Shadow?' Sonic glared but he was surprised to see that the hedgehog jumped up on the tail and went for the mechanism on it's back, stomping on it. The lizard renewed it's focus out of sheer anger and tried to shake it off, Shadow managing to jump off and landing before he lost his balance on the mechanism, and shouted to Sonic and Knuckles: 'Stop the Chaos Emeralds! I'll distract this monster!'

'Right. Come on, Knuckles, focus again!'

'There better not be any interruptions now!' Knuckles grumbled as he closed his eyes once more, and began to chant the verse again.

'The servers are…'

The Biolizard coughed out it's mouth a ball of dark energy aimed at Shadow, but he managed to slide under it, and grabbed one of the green tubes besides it's mouth.

'the seven Chaos…'

Pulling it out with all his strength, the Biolizard began to cough as green liquid dripped out of of the tube, and Shadow ran further away trying to bait it in following him. The creature lunging it's neck to give chase attempting to chomp down on him.

'Chaos is power…'

As Shadow thought, the Biolizard was running out of air quickly and began to breathe heavily, Shadow taking advantage and jumped on the other tube grinding with aid from the air shoes to make it to the life support system once more, this time demolishing it with spindashing through the device.

'power is enriched by the heart…'

The Biolizard now determined to kill the hedgehog before succumbing to the lack of oxygen raised it's neck summoned pink egg cells out of it's body and hurled them towards Shadow, exploding upon making contact with the ground, him managing to barely evade them.

'the controller is the one that unifies the Chaos…'

Shadow saw his chance and jumped quickly to a egg before it was hurled, and using it as a boost, jumped straight through the monster's neck, piercing a hole in it, and it dropped seemingly succumbing to it's injuries on the floor.

'Master Emerald! Hear my request! Stop the Chaos Emeralds!'

A bright light emitted from the gem as it made contact with the Chaos Emeralds, suddenly stopping with supplying energy to the device, and fell on the water-filled floor. They were silent for a second before they realized they've accomplished their goal. 'We did it!' Sonic smiled.

Eggman and the others waiting in the room also noticed the ARK was now decreasing speed, and Tails knew what that meant. 'Yes! They did it! The ARK has stopped!' They were all caught off guard as Big gave the other animals a large victory hug, much to their displeasure, and noticed the timer disappeared.

The President who felt that everything was lost and buried his face in the office desk also heard sudden cheering from the masses outside and confused, looked up and saw on the TV that the timer vanished off the screen. 'It's over…phew…I think my heart skipped several beats there…'

Shadow landed and approached the two. Sonic looked at him confused. 'Shadow. why did you help us?' The hedgehog smiled faintly in response. 'I did it for some-'

They were suddenly interrupted as the Biolizard wasn't apparently quite dead yet, and roared raising it's neck once more, and disappeared in a bright flash. 'What…was that?' Sonic looked confused.

'It looked like…Chaos Control.' Shadow deduced, but then they fell to the floor as the ARK rumbled, as did the rest in the monitor room.

'What happened? Why did the ARK shake?' Sonic scratched his head as he got up, and picked up the Chaos Emeralds along with Knuckles. 'We should ask Eggman, he should know about it.'

'I can warp you to him using Chaos Control.' Shadow touched the Emeralds and warped them straight to where the rest were.

They all looked behind them as they saw the three materialize in the room, and Amy ran towards Sonic, looking panicked. 'Sonic! What is that?' She pointed to the window and the three couldn't believe their eyes. It looked like the front of the Biolizard's body has fused with the front of the damaged Eclipse Cannon, and it seemed to push the entire ARK in the Earth's direction. 'It's still alive? Eggman, can't you stop it?'

The doctor tried to input several commands, but to no avail. 'Grr, it's no use! That creature seems to be controlling the entire ARK by force, and it seems to be determined to keep it's on it's collision course! It may not be as highly reactive due to the Chaos Emeralds no longer powering the core, but if it impacts the Earth, it may destroy about half of the whole planet!'

'What can we do then?' Sonic thought, but then looked at the Chaos Emeralds. 'I know…it's Super time!' He exclaimed.

'Yeah, you can do it, Sonic!' Tails encouraged, as did everybody else. Though Shadow stepped forward as well. 'I'll join you as well.'

'Huh? But…yes, I believe we can share the power. Ready?' Shadow nodded and they both focussed closing their eyes as the Chaos Emeralds began to circle around them rapidly, and in a flash they were both transformed into their Super forms, Shadow glowing a whiter color than Sonic's yellow fur.

'We've got no time to waste.' Shadow used his Chaos Control to transport them directly outside in space, and in front of the ARK where they saw the hideously disfigured form of the Biolizard that somehow was still alive despite the injuries it sustained, and speeded right towards it.

The President was about to announce that the threat has passed on live television, when the secretary came rushing in. 'Mr. President, this is urgent! We have established contact with our satellites again, and it seems that the ARK has continued it's crash course towards Earth.'

'What?' The President established contact with footage of a satellite close to the ARK, and saw it was indeed moving forward to the Earth. 'No…but how? That program stopped…huh?' Zoom in on the front…what is that creature? Some kind of lizard? And those two yellow stars going to it…two hedgehogs? Broadcast this to the whole world! We must pray for this to be solved!' The President sat down as he kept looking to the screen. 'Please…save the Earth…let there be a miracle…'

'Darn!' The two hedgehogs despite being in their super forms had great difficulty approaching the mutant. It fired a barrage of lasers out of it's mouth and body, and also a large amount of those eggs at lightning speed. It seemed to be no clear opening to damage it. Even Shadow's Chaos powers weren't having any positive results as the lizard destroyed any Chaos Spears he threw at it, and warping to it result in a egg straight to his face. 'What can we do to get close to that thing? It has accuracy like nothing!' Despite struggling to avoid it and keep up with the ARK's increasing velocity, they pressed on.

Inside the ARK, the rest kept watching the fight, praying for their success as well, until Rouge noticed something on the creature's body. 'Hey! Look at that! On that freak's backside. It looks like…a tumor?'

'Yeah…maybe it's a as a result of using so much energy it's starting to develop these illnesses on it's body.' Tails added. 'But how can we tell them…AH!' he ran towards the monitor Eggman was previously sitting at behind, and he opened up the wiring system, meddling around with some of the wires. 'If I can do this…maybe we can speak to them from here, by applying the transmitter function all over the ARK and increasing it's volume.'

'Great idea, Tails!' Amy watched him at work.

Sonic and Shadow were still engaging the creature, and suddenly heard a voice coming from the ARK.

'Testing, testing…aha! Sonic! Shadow! Can you both hear me?' They heard Eggman's voice. 'There seems to be a large tumor forming on the creature's back! It may very well be a weak spot it! Find a way to hit it, and hurry! I estimate the ARK will enter the atmosphere in about 3 minutes!'

'Hmm, Shadow, here's a plan. I'll distract it, and you go away, warping in at the right time above that ugly freak and hit that spot, alright?'

"Got it.' Sonic went ahead and Shadow backed off. 'Come on, show me whatcha can do, psycho!' Sonic taunted the Biolizard, and it directed all of it's shots towards Sonic, who managed to evade them for about 10 seconds, but he was caught off-guard and hit by a laser which plowed him back hitting in the stomach, and he tried to suppress the pain, continuing to charge at it to distract it, hearing encouragement from his friends.

'You can do it, Sonic!'

'Come on, Sonic! The Earth's counting on you!'

'Froggy says 'Don't give up!''

Rouge did wonder where Shadow was. 'Hey, where's Shadow?'

Amy pointed towards him teleporting above the creature's back holding a fully charged Chaos Spear, seeing a opening. 'There!'

He tossed it towards the tumor, which caused the biohazard to roar in agony as it exploded and caused blood to flow out of it, burning away in the velocity's speed. 'Eeew!' Amy was disgusted by it.

'Come on Shadow! Here's our chance!' Sonic and Shadow joined forces for charging up a last powerful Chaos Spear shot by Shadow with Sonic focussing his energy with it, and he quickly tossed it at the monster, shouting: 'Eat this, disgusting prototype.' Upon impact the creature let out one last roar as it was vaporized in the blast, along with a good chunk of the Eclipse Cannon. 'We did it!' They smiled to each other acknowledging the threat was over, but noticed that the ARK's speed hasn't decreased.

'They destroyed it…but how come the ARK hasn't stopped?' Tails looked worried as the ARK began to glow red, coming dangerously close to Earth.

'No!' Eggman screamed pounding the control panel. 'The ARK is now falling towards the Earth because of the gravitational pull! We need a miracle if we're hoping for survival!'

Sonic heard it and got a idea. 'A miracle?…Shadow! We gotta use Chaos Control to warp the entire ARK away from Earth!'

'What?' Shadow couldn't believe what Sonic said. 'Did you take a good look at the size of that thing? Even if we focus all our energy in it, I can't warp something that gigantic away from it!' Sonic still insisted. 'We have to try, otherwise we're goners!' They dashed in front of the Earth, and focussed their energy into forming a giant sphere that would be large enough to warp the entire ARK away, but they were feeling pain in their body and muscles as a result, and were beginning to lose focus.

'Grr…I won't give up! No way that's gonna get through!' Sonic screamed as he started to grit his teeth. Shadow thought in himself as he felt the pain getting to him: 'Grrr…must not…give in yet…' A though then crossed his mind as he remembered almost fainting before wearing the rings. '…I will most likely not survive…but I must do it…it's the only way!' Shadow quickly removed the rings on his wrists. 'Sonic! Get out of the way!'

Shadow? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' Sonic saw him screaming at the top of his lungs as a overwhelming power surged through his body, screaming: 'CHAOS CONTROL!' And before he could act, he was being sucked into the large sphere that Shadow empowered, and within a flash,he and the ARK disappeared.

And a few seconds later, it appeared miles away from Earth, floating in orbit stationary. The satellite zoomed in.

'The ARK has stopped…it's finally over. IT'S OVER!' The President's face beamed with happiness and everyone else witnessing it applauded and cheered as they were relieved praising the miracle that just happened.

But close to it's atmosphere, Shadow barely managed to stay awake, feeling numb all over his body, and almost fainted as he felt his super form vanishing and slowly falling towards Earth, the Chaos Emeralds falling towards Earth in different directions as well. 'M-Maria….do you hear me? I'm….I'm truly happy now…' He turned his head around to see Earth as a burning aura surrounded him and he was engulfed in it, smiling faintly before closing his eyes. 'You were right…Earth looks does beautiful…' He then disappeared in the Earth's atmosphere like a shooting star…

Sonic woke up lying somewhere in the ARK, and he quickly scanned his surroundings. 'Shadow? Hey Shadow! Where are you? Was it a dream….ah!' He saw two rings lying close to him on the ground, and picked them up. Staying silent, he walked around the ARK until he opened a certain door, where the rest was waiting, being completely stumped at what just happened. He saw Amy run towards him and hugging, relieved that he was alright. 'Sonic! You're okay!' She snuggled her face against his, but he stayed silent. She then noticed what was wrong. 'Huh? Where's Shadow?' He simply shrugged his head and showed her the rings he held in his hand. 'Ah…did he…'

'I don't know…but if he was okay, he'd be here right now, that's for sure…' He saw Rouge walking up to him taking one of the rings from his hands, and looked at it.

'You know…I can't help but think of this being a great twist of irony…he was told to carry out the professor's act of vengeance on the Earth…but in the end he saved us all…' Sonic muttered as he walked towards the window looking at the stars: 'He sure did…perhaps he really did give his life in the process…' He noticed Tails and Eggman talking to each other over a small distance, but decided to not interfere.

'As a child…I looked up to my grandfather because of all the great things he accomplished in his life…he was a my hero, my idol, and I wanted to be a great scientist like him…but…did he really mean to destroy us all?'

Tails shrugged his head, not knowing the answer to it. 'I don't know…but one thing's for sure…we're still alive now thanks to his invention of the ultimate life form.' Eggman walked away planning to use the transportation device to warp back to Earth, and Tails called him out. 'Hey, where are you going?'

'I need some time to think this over. It's been a long day.' He mumbled before he left the room, but as the door closed, he grinned. 'Hmph, this doesn't change anything though.' He thought in himself.

'So, what are you going to do next, Rouge? Still going after jewels?' Knuckles looked at her, totally not being surprised that the two were having a normal conversation now.

'Nah…I think I need a little vacation to think all of this over. Besides, this line of work has too much danger, for too little pay. I think somewhere on a nice tropical island sounds like a good place.' She winked at him in a teasing manner.

'H-Hey! Don't get any funny idea's! My island is off-limits, alright?'

Amy approached Big, who was standing at the window, looking at the stars with Froggy sitting on his head. 'Hey Big. I just wanted to thank you again for helping us out back there. You really were a big help by helping me get back to the surface when I dived to reach for that lever.'

The large feline smiled. 'Hehe, it was nothing. I fish with Froggy all time, so we know all about handling a fishing rod.' But then his stomach grumbled. 'Hmm…I'm kinda getting hungry from all this saving the world stuff, though…'

'Hey, you can come over at my place so I can cook up something nice for you. Does that sound like something?'

'Sure!' Big smiled

'Anything you like in particular?' Big scratched his back.

'Hmm…I dunno…anything sounds good…might be nice to taste something else than fish all the time. Hey, how about the next time you'll visit my place, then I can treat you to some fish.'

Amy looked a bit awkward hearing that. 'Eh…I'll think about it.' The two chuckled before Amy headed over to Sonic, and Big mumbled to Froggy: 'I hope that Shadow fellow's okay…he seemed really nice.'

'Shadow…the ultimate life form?' Sonic whispered as he kept juggling the ring absorbed by his thoughts, until Amy's voice snapped him out and he dropped it.

'What's the matter, Sonic?' 'Ah!' He picked it up and put up his usual cool self in front of her so as to not make her worry. 'Ah, it's nothing, just thinking that's all.' He looked towards Tails. 'Hey buddy, any plans on fixing that shuttle so we can get back to the planet as cool and blue as me?'

'Sure, it shouldn't take too long.' Tails smiled, but Rouge had something to say.

'Hey, we can take a transportation device back to the base of that round doctor.'

'He used a transporter device to get here?' Tails sounded surprised at that. She nodded.

'Pfft, I'll bet you anything he has it turned off by now to prevent us from going there again. Knowing Eggman, he'd surely pull something like that.

'You're right Sonic.' Tails ran towards where they left the shuttle. 'I'll be fixing it right away.

'But Sonic, there's still one more problem.' Sonic turned his head to Amy. 'Oh? What?'

'You're still branded as a criminal down there on Earth, and we have nothing to prove you're innocent from robbing that bank.'

'Aw geez, I totally forgot about it!' Sonic facepalmed.

'I wouldn't be so sure about that, blue boy.' Rouge said as she pulled out the diary disk from Gerald out of the monitor. 'Looks like the doc forgot to take this with him. And eh, just between us 3, I'm actualy under the employ of the President to find out and report back with proof about this 'Project Shadow' matter on his orders, and I think this should more than suffice as evidence. What do you say of this: I give this to the President and tell him you were totally innocent of that crime, and you two keep my real line of work to yourselves, deal?'

'Deal! See, Amy? It all works out in the end!' They both laughed.

Awhile later, the shuttle was fixed and ready to, and they took off. But just as they left ARK, Sonic kept looking at it from afar, and waved a hand unseen by the others towards it, whispering: 'Sayonara…Shadow the Hedgehog.'

The end