This story got its inspiration from many different sources including the Sonic Movie (it was pretty rubbish but the final fight wasn't bad), Dark Super Sonic, MajinStudios c 2008 and Aiko Chan Sot.
Deep within everyone's psyche there lies the opposite face of our true selves, by that I mean if your good and kind nature is always present on the outside then within is your dark and more evil alternate self. Sometimes we all feel that dark and cruel feeling reach the surface and when that occurs then all hell is unleashed. This is the main theme of my story. This story includes violence, swearing and killing. Enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW.
Title: The Devil Within
Chapter 1: Gathering the Samples
Diary entry – 23rd June 2008: It's been too long since I had tested my genius to its full potential, however that was then and this is now. Now I can see my greatest triumph staring at me from within my mind, for too long now I have toyed away at quantum mechanics with the aim of creating the ultimate machine to destroy that bastard hedgehog and his friends. Now, however, I have seen why I failed. The simple fact of the matter is that machines are weak and fallible, they only possess the limited ability to anticipate certain actions of their opponent. But a bio-weapon can do better. This thought has now lead me to take a different path. Using the data I have collected from my grandfather's archives I now see a way of creating a new life form, or better yet life forms, by way of DNA duplication. My grandfather had succeeded in this endeavor unfortunately the fool failed to take steps to make sure that Project Shadow would remain totally obedient to its master, Shadow did at first meet my expectations and obey my orders without question but I failed to notice that his personality could become infected by feelings of sickening emotion. That is a mistake I shall not make. I plan to acquire DNA samples from all of my enemies and bring certain valuable personality traits to the surface. In short, I plan to use their own daemons against them to ensure total destruction.
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(Meanwhile on Angel Island)
The sun shone hot and bright in the midday sky and the blue hedgehog was determined to make the most of it, he was seventeen now and life was proving to be dull. Sure he had his friends, especially his best mate and little brother Tails, to keep him occupied but he missed the old days when Eggman would try his luck with his newest mechanical creation. He kept himself going, simply because he felt that if he stopped moving for any great length of time he would go mad. Occasionally his hot-headed and boisterous friend Knuckles would challenge him to a fight, just to see if he could catch the blue blur off guard.
As Sonic lay on the grass, left leg bent at the knee and his right leg crossed on top of it, his ears began to pick up the sound of two pairs of feet sneaking up from behind him. "Aint you guys ever gonna learn" he thought to himself, "Oh well, if that's the game you wanna play I guess I'll go along with it". Sonic waited calmly until the last second, fully aware of what was going to happen. But he wasn't about to let them guess that.
"GOTCHA!" came the yell of two voices as they jumped through the air attempting to grab the supposedly unaware hedgehog. However once they picked themselves up from the ground a familiar figure stood over them, with a large grin on his face.
"I aint that slow you guys, I thought you two would've learned by now that its impossible to successfully sneak up on me".
The two assailants just lay in the dirt and cursing themselves under their breath for the plan going pear shaped. Tails stood up from the ground and approached his older brother with a huge smile beaming across his face before he burst out laughing.
"You really are one cocky son of a bitch, sonic" uttered the youngster's voice as he tried to halt the laughter, to which Sonic just shrugged his shoulders and then proceeded to ruffle the young Fox's hair.
"True, true, but hey it's what I do".
Knuckles, meanwhile, was far from impressed. He was not one to be outsmarted and left in the dirt, despite the fact that him being outsmarted was becoming as common as seeing the birds fly. The red echidna lifted himself from the ground and instantly marched off without saying a word to the two of them, Sonic was about to utter a few words that he knew would provoke a reaction but in the end he decided against it. As the two of them were about to go after their hot-headed friend Tails's ears picked up the sound of twin-turbo velocity engines approaching their position, it was unknown what their exact position was until the enemy came bearing down upon them.
Two metallic life forms landed not ten feet from Sonic and Tails's position, it was unknown at first if they posed any apparent threat as the machines stood motionless upon the ground. However, before anyone could even flinch, the sound of electric circuits whirring and metal gismos within clanking against each other proved that these machines were coming online. Both of the heroes took a few steps back as twin steel blades suddenly unsheathed from hidden cavities located on each of the robot's arms, it was then that the single eye-piece located at the centre of the head emitted an unnerving red light and a rusty metallic voice was emitted from a loudspeaker located at the base of the neck.
"Program status… online".
"Mission objective… acquire DNA samples from target".
Tails and Sonic just exchanged confused glances at one another as they tried to make sense of the 'orders' that the machines had been given, unfortunately their chains of thought were interrupted as the metallic monsters lifted off the ground and charged straight towards them at great speed.
Sonic pushed Tails to one side and jumped onto the back of one of the robots as it came within a suitable distance for his tactic to succeed. Using the robot's back as a platform he leapt into the air and tried to perform a spindash that would be strong enough to penetrate its armored hide and ultimately destroy it. Unfortunately though the machine had been programmed to react accordingly in order to successfully neutralize such threats, and it proved it. Before Sonic could launch his attack the machine's engines let out a sudden burst of speed causing it to propel straight up into the air where it began to dive bomb the hedgehog, Sonic tried to alter his position but since there was nothing in mid-air for him rebound off of he was helpless. The robot appeared behind Sonic and attempted to slash him with its right arm blade, Sonic spun in the air in a desperate attempt to avoid the attack which only just succeeded. The blade cut through Sonic's back just enough to draw blood but causing no serious damage, Sonic gritted his teeth in pain as he felt a sharp stinging sensation role up his back. Bracing himself for the mechanical beast to try its luck again, he had no idea that his blood was what the robot had been sent there for all along.
However to his utter surprise the robot simply sheathed its blades and took off into the air, as he looked down at the ground he could see the second monstrosity head towards Tails. Sonic realized that there was nothing he could do as he continued to tumble towards the ground, "Hold on lil' buddy, I'll be there in a sec", he thought to himself but he knew that he wouldn't. The simple fact of the matter was that his speed was only of use to him on the ground, not in mid-air. Luckily for Tails though help was at hand, as the beast approached the small fox now cowering in fear. The metal monster raised its left blade high into the air and was about to bring it down upon Tails when a red blur appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the vile creation, knocking it off balance the robot turned on its metallic heel and took a swipe at its assailant. Knuckles could not react in time and received a hard slash to his left shoulder causing him to be flung into the ground a fair distance away.
Tails felt a surge of anger build up inside of him, he had never felt rage like it before in his life and had his mind not gone totally blank except for the single thought of destroying the abomination that had injured his friend then it would doubtless have scared him. With his twin tails spinning violently, the little fox shot into the air and planted a swift right hook to the chin of the enemy prompting it to topple to the ground. Suddenly, as quickly as it had surfaced, the rage within him vanished causing his mind to remain unfocused and his body to feel limp and slightly painful. This was his weakest moment as the robot proceeded to force itself off the ground and attack Tails for a second time. Sonic, meanwhile, had managed to grab hold of a nearby tree branch on his way down allowing himself to halt the threat of a violent collision with the earth and to use it as a launching platform to propel himself forward to attack the second enemy.
The robot took a swipe at Tails but the kitsune proved too nimble to receive a direct hit and was able to dive out of the way but not before he felt a stinging feeling across his right leg, looking down at it he noticed a small cut just above the Achilles tendon which had started to emit a small trickle of blood. Clutching his leg with enough pressure to stop the blood flow he was so preoccupied that he failed to notice the machine lumbering towards him, when he suddenly became aware of its presence Tails was about to make a dash for cover but to his utter surprise the robot simply halted where it stood and began to sheath its weapons.
"Mission progress… complete".
"Initiating return to Eggman Headqua…".
The voice of the machine was cut off by the impact of, what seemed like, a small blue comet heavily impacting against its back thus causing it to be flung to the ground face first. Sonic wasted no more time on the robot and ran over to Tails to assess his injuries.
"How you coping buddy, you don't look too bad". Tails just smiled in reply but as he tried to stand the sharp pain in his leg bit back with a vengeance, causing him to fall to his knees. Sonic instantly grabbed the boy and was about to pick him up when Tails pushed him away.
"I'm fine Sonic trust me, go and see to Knuckles I think he may need more help than I do". Sonic didn't give a verbal reply, he just nodded and shot off towards Knuckles's position.
Tails cautiously limped his way over to the metallic monstrosity, which didn't look very menacing with its face in the dirt, with the intention of trying to gain access to its memory data banks located in the back of the head. As he removed a steel plate from the base of the head he reveled a maze of complex wires and circuitry, but brushing aside the multi-colored wires revealed a small computer that was apparently still functioning judging by the small flashing lights and the various high pitched noises it was making. Taking out a small device attached to his wristwatch Tails began to download all of the data he could retrieve from it, unfortunately after only half a minute the mechanical being whirred into life once more. Standing up from the dirt it proceeded to take to the air causing Tails to roll down its back, luckily though he too could also take to the air and so was able to save himself from any further injury. "I just hope that I got all I could from that thing" was his immediate thought.
Sonic lay by Knuckles's side as the red echidna started shaking of the effects of unconsciousness, it was then that as the numbness went away the sharp pain from his wound suddenly took hold causing Knuckles to grit his teeth and let out a slight cry of pain.
"Oh man… fuck this hurts".
"Take it easy, the slash is a clean cut so it'll heal in no time".
Knuckles just glared at Sonic through the pain, his next comment fully befitting his title of 'hothead'. "I'll fucking give you 'Take it easy' mate".
Sonic just rolled his eyes and helped his friend to stand on his own feet, Tails then suddenly appeared landing right next to his blue brother. "I got some data from the computer within that machine, I don't know what they were here for but from the looks of things they just wanted to injure us but not kill us". Tails then noticed the wound to Knuckles's shoulder…
"How you holding up buddy".
"I can honestly say… arh… I've been better", came the reply followed by a wink indicating that he was going to tough out the pain.
"Sonic, take knuckles to my workshop. There I can stitch up his and your wounds to prevent infection as well as examining this information to see what Eggman's up to". Sonic nodded in accordance and before anyone knew it he had Knuckles on his back and sped off into the distance leaving a faint trail of blue light behind him, Tails took off into the air and desperately tried to keep pace.
(90 miles away at the exact same time)
"Damn it, this fight aint going so well you guys".
"Oh reeeaaally, what ever gave you that fucking idea".
Again the two metal beasts attacked, they had successfully wounded all three of their enemies but again they did not press the attack in order to fully kill them. Instead both machines, battered and bruised due to the hefty assaults made against them, took to the air and made their escape. This left their victims dumbfounded, simply staring at each other with questions running through their minds, they wondered why they had not been finished off. Why had they been made to bleed but not die, the attack seemed so pointless.
"Well… dat was strange" came a slow and somewhat retarded comment from the overgrown albatross as he struggled to stand.
"Sure was buddy. Wave, what do you think".
The purple swallow looked at her left arm, the numbness began to take hold and she felt that she could barely move it. The slash had been swift but nevertheless it had cut deep releasing a small flow of blood to fall to the ground. Her compatriots had also suffered similar injuries to their arms and legs, but none were as serious as hers and she knew it. As she looked over towards her leader, who was now forcing himself off the ground with a look of serious agony etched across his face due to the wound to his right leg, the swallow felt great anger arise within her. Smacking her fist upon the ground and feeling the weight of humiliation upon her and her friends she gritted her teeth…
"They shall pay for this… this… this insult".
The leader known to his friends and foes alike as Jet limped towards her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder in an attempt to quell her anger as well as to reassure her there uttered a voice of both vengeance and defiance.
"The Babylon Rogues will not suffer this insult from that bastard Eggman, I swear it". Jet gritted his teeth and shook his fist at the sky.
"Come on Wave, we need to get that wound looked at" came Jet's concerned comment as he helped her off the ground.
"Well then… where… do you suggest we go, brainiac. We cant… go to the hospital because we'll get arrested", came her reply as she spoke through the pain.
"I know, what bout dat little flyin fox and his friends. Maybe dey could help us". The others turned and glared at their companion, that dumb bird had come up with some down right stupid ideas before but this one was the king of them all. However they all knew that they had nowhere else to turn, Jet seemed agitated that he would have to rely on Sonic for help and Wave herself seemed annoyed at the fact that she would have to rely on 'shorty' to help her. The three of them bottled their pride and then began the long and difficult trek towards Tails's workshop.
(One hour later and 150 miles from the Babylon Rogues incident)
A familiar black and red hedgehog was standing on the summit of a small hill overlooking a wide open valley, the wind ruffled through his quills and the sunshine beamed off the beautiful array of flora and fauna down below. The small number of trees rocked back and forth in the wind and the smell of nature clung to the ebony hedgehog, similar to how Amy would cling to Sonic, causing Shadow to feel somewhat at ease with life. Shadow had always been a lone wolf and he preferred it that way, he preferred to be alone with his thoughts in order to unravel puzzles that events had dealt him in his mind. Unfortunately though, his concentration was interrupted by the arrival of a familiar, but nevertheless annoying, presence. Quietly the figure tiptoed up behind the seemingly unaware target.
"I do wish you wouldn't play these damn games with me…Rouge".
"You seem to have eyes in the back of your head, perhaps I should watch my ass from now on".
"Your ass doesn't interest me in the slightest", came the cunning reply from the black hedgehog who continued to remain focused on the view ahead of him and not turning to face Rouge directly.
"Pity, I would find it so exciting to know someone like you was always watching me". Rouge then let out a slight laugh in an attempt to get Shadow either annoyed or interested, unfortunately it did not achieve the desired result.
"What do you want Rouge, I don't have time for your idiotic small talk".
Rouge was unfazed by the sharp and blunt comment, "From where I'm standing, you seem to have all the time in the world. But if you must know, word has reached my unnaturally high perceptive ears that Eggman's planning something".
"Strange the doctor hasn't been heard from in quite some time". Shadow still continued to look out into the valley but even though his eyes focused on one thing, his mind was now completely focused on trying to unravel the mystery of what the doctor could be planning.
"But wait, there's more, it seems that not too long ago Sonic and his friends were attacked by Eggman's war machines. Now comes the strange part, even though the machines had Sonic and co on the receiving end of a good beating they refused to press the attack and kill them. It appears that they were sent just to inflict injuries, not death".
Shadow now turned to face Rouge, he seemed genuinely flummoxed by what she had told him for the doctor had always seemed adamant to kill Sonic and the others whenever the opportunity presented itself. It was simply not like Eggman to have his metallic minions flee when the battle swung their way. He walked down the hill grabbing Rouge by the arm along the way.
"Well you don't have to get this frisky, sweetie. Where are you planning to go anyway?".
"To Sonic and Tails's place, as much as I hate to go to them perhaps they will know what the hell is going on".
"Fine with me but it sure is a long way away and even with your speed we wont get there until dusk", her concern was met by a smile from Shadow as he produced a purple chaos emerald from beneath his quills.
"Now, hold onto me and I'll get us there in no time", Rouge gave a sly smile and gladly stuck close to the Black hedgehog's furry chest, much to his annoyance for he didn't like her to get that close to him, "CHAOS CON!…" he was cut off by three large metal blades flying towards him at great speed. Shadow pushed the batgirl away from him and she landed on the ground, then there was silence, even the wind has ceased and all remained still. Shadow could not make sense of what had happened but as he motioned towards the emerald that lay in a tuft of grass one of Eggman's robots appeared behind him, before Shadow could even turn a powerful metal fist sent him flying into the earth creating a small crater as he impacted. Clutching his head in pain Shadow managed to open his eyes to see the beast stand before him, at first it remained motionless but then two steel blades materialized from both arms and it lunged at him. Shadow shot off the ground into the air and flung himself at his attacker, he waited until the last possible moment and then leapt over the robot and planted a roundhouse kick to the back of its head sending it into the dirt and making the crater that he had made even bigger.
Rouge lifted herself off the ground and stood poised to aid Shadow in his fight but before she could even take a step three more flying blades came directly towards her, luckily her acrobatic skills as a jewel thief had always saved her from sudden surprise assaults and she dived out of the way with ease. Unfortunately, before she could land on her feet she received a powerful kick to the back whilst in mid-air that sent her flying out of control. Before she could even reposition herself to counteract her opponent she received a slash of a fine blade across her waist and she fell from the sky. Shadow attacked his own opponent with such a mighty punch that the metallic monstrosity fell to the ground with a thunderous crash, Shadow leapt on top of the robot's chest with the intent on blowing it to kingdom come. He placed his right hand, palm flat, onto the metal surface of the machine, his fur suddenly seemed to crackle with the powerful chaos energy running through him and a strong red glow began to emit from his hand…
"CHAOS BLA!..." just before he could annihilate the beast Shadow spotted Rouge falling through the air, turning back to face the machine and looking directly into the deadly red light being emitted from the eye-piece Shadow let out a low and angry growl before shooting off towards Rouge. He forced himself to go that extra distance, to make extra speed and luckily he managed to achieve it. Just as Rouge was no more that six to eight feet from impact, Shadow grabbed hold of her in his arms and slid along the ground. As he held her tightly he could plainly see that she was badly injured and in need of medical attention, he laid her down gently in the grass, she was still breathing and appeared to be fighting off the effects of both pain and nausea. Shadow quickly rushed back to find the lost emerald, upon discovering it he made a quick dive for it but was knocked back into the dirt by one of the Eggman robots, luckily for him he had braced himself for the attack mere seconds before it came at him and so he was able to rise up off the ground with no real injury. Unluckily for him however he did not anticipate the arrival of a second war machine appear behind him, the metallic beast took a strong swipe at him with its left blade and Shadow just managed to back away from the attack in time. Unfortunately though, as he jumped back, the robot brought its right hand blade to bear and was able to deliver a successful slash to his torso, spilling blood in the process.
The machines now seemed to be in a position whereby they could have successfully finished him off, but just as their counterparts had done with the other enemies of their master, they stood motionless. Shadow did not let the opportunity slip from his grasp, using his remaining strength he bounded towards the emerald that lay in the grass and proceeded to race towards Rouge. As he got within range he grabbed her in his left arm whilst holding his right, with emerald in hand, above him.
"Chaos… control", and in the blink of an eye the two of them vanished from sight.
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Not bad for the first chapter I hope. I hope this has wetted your appetites and if it has then read on and enjoy.