Shelby

What's Happened to the World?

A pair of opal blue eyes snapped wide open. The blue hedgehog that owned them snapped straight up in her bed and looked around, relaxing when she realized she was still only in her bedroom.

"Man, that sure was a weird dream." She whispered to herself.

She continued to look around her room, wondering what in the world was going on.

"Must be pretty early, the sun's not even up." She said, noticing the darkness filled windows.

But it wasn't just the windows that were bothering her, that dream that she had. It was more like a nightmare. She closed her eyes and remembered what she could.

In it, she was floating about twenty feet above a strange room but she recognized it at once: it was Eggman's base!

"It's finally finished!" He roared.

Before him stood a strange device it was a HUGE hoop shape, almost as if it were to open a portal.

"That thing is as big as Akakabuto!" She said in shock.

"Now, I'll just set in the date and soon, I'll be free of Knuckles, Tails, and that annoying Sonic!" He laughed.

"He's nuts!" She whispered. "Well, I'm not going to let him get away!"

The next thing she remembered, she was in a large clearing, completely untouched by Eggman.

"Whoa." She whispered, having almost forgotten that something this beautiful could exist.

"HELP!"

She was snapped from her thoughts when she spotted Eggman and a group of robots! They had cornered a family of hedgehogs, totally scared out of their wits.

"Get away from them!" She cried and charged the closest. She stood on one leg to kick one and hit! There was a strange tingling in her leg. It didn't hurt but it was strange. She looked and saw what it was. She just fazed right through it! "What the?"

Eggman then made a snatch for one of the hedgehogs, a small blue one.

"NO, SONIC!" She heard the mother cry!

"SONIC?!" She cried, in shock. "EGGMAN! PUT HIM DOWN!"

They just acted like she wasn't there.

"Okay, now I'm mad." She said and charged them again. But like before, she fazed right through them, a tingling feeling running through whatever part of her body as touching it.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" She ordered. They just kept on walking. "BRING HIM BACK RIGHT NOW!" She could only watch as they took away the small blue puffball.

"SONIC!" The parents cried.

She slowly turned to them, and gasped! They both looked just like her friend! She regained her composer and slowly walked to them.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save your son." She said, looking to the ground.

"Sonic." The mother cried.

The next thing she remembered was being in a sort of park. All around people were screaming!

"What now?" She asked herself.

She turned on her heal and saw Eggman and the same robots, but no Sonic. This time, however, Eggman had a small fox in his hand, holding it by its…two…tails?

"TAILS!" She cried in shock! "PUT HIM DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

She charged the robots again, but nothing happened! She fazed right through the robot she was trying to attack, the tingling feeling running through her body again.

"Come, we've got what we wanted." Eggman said and marched off with his robots.

"BRING TAILS BACK RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!" She warned and went on the attack again. But like before, it was useless.

The next that she could remember was being at the shine of the Master Emerald. And again, Eggman was there, a group of robots with him. And this time, he had a small red echidna!

"KNUCKLES! EGGMAN! YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON HERE BEFORE IT GETS UGLY, AND I DON'T MEAN YOU!" She yelled, hot tears in her eyes.

They paid her no head, and moved on. She wasn't going to let them take away Knuckles, she didn't want them to take away any of them! She kept on attacking Eggman and the robots, even though she kept fazing right through them, the tingling feeling rushing through her whole body.

One of the last things she remembered was being in a sort of black void, a single light shining over her head.

"Now where am I?" She asked. "This better not be The Zone of Silence. I always thought it was a little different from this."

"Find your friends you must." An ominous voice said. "Find those who bare the twelve crests. Save the future of this great calamity. Stop Robotnik. Save the three. Find the barer of hope. Free his black heart. Bring the light to this world. Cleanse it of the darkness that will settle on the world. Only then can you return."

After that, she had woken up she had seen something terrible: Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, held to a wall with some sort of energy shackles. They looked awful, badly beaten, a sick look on each of them. They looked like they may die at any given time.

That's when she noticed something about her bedroom: there was sense of impending doom, and it was very strong.

"What in the name of the Chaos Emeralds is going on around here?" She asked herself as she threw her covers from her body.

She slowly walked to the window, not sure as to what she'd see. Once she was close enough, she slowly opened the curtains and looked out. What she saw shocked her! The peaceful beautiful valley that she had once called home was gone, and its place was a valley of robot factories all of them belonging to the fat doctor.

"What in the world?" She asked. "How could egg belly do all of this in just one night, and without me noticing? I better check this out."

She raced into her bathroom and pulled on her usually clothes. The fabrics were the only things familiar to her at the moment.

She checked everything over just to make sure. She was still wearing her blue jeans, a white t-shirt with sky blue sleeves, a yellow turtleneck collar, a sky blue heart on the front of the t-shirt, white gloves, white socks, and red orange sneakers. That was everything.

"I hope the rest of the house is still the same." She said to herself and opened her bedroom door.

To her relief, everything in the mansion had somehow, one way or another, stayed the same. She then came to the basement door, praying that what was in it was still the same. She raced down the stairs and to the back wall. She pressed a single stone and the whole wall lifted up, revealing a steal tunnel.

"Safe B.C.E. Thank goodness." She said.

She quickly typed in the code in the keyboard and the lift was quickly moving through the five levels of security.

"The crushers, the lasers, the freeze rays, the laser web, and the robot wild cats." She said, as she quickly passed each level, grateful to know they were still in working order.

Once she passed the final level of security, she jumped from the lift and into the large room. It was totally bare except for a single white table that seemed to curve up from the floor and on it was a small safe. She quickly ran up to it. She entered the code, had her eye scanned, her DNA scanned, and voice entered code.

"Delta breaker red, code: zero, zero echo, niner." She said, in sighting the code perfectly.

"Voice print: a proofed." The computerized voice said and the door opened.

She sighed with relief seeing that the few items that were put in the safe were still there. Her most valued treasures.

"The black chaos emerald." She said, dipping into the safe. "The necklace that Shadow gave me, and the Crest of Light."

Once she placed the black jewel in her pocket, she hung the necklace and crest around her neck. She felt relieved to have them around her neck. The crest hung close to her heart, while the necklace hung just over it.

"Now to find out what in the world is going on." She said.

She quickly raced back up to the main floor, and peeked out the window. The once peaceful town looked even worse then it did in her bedroom. Sighing, she slowly walked out. She was greeted by a blast of smelly fumes.

"BLEK! How can Robotnik stand this?" She asked, pinching her nose shut.

Ignoring the strong fumes, she continued out of her mansion, and began the long walk into town. Normally she would have used her super sonic speed to get down there but she didn't know what waited for her so she didn't want to take her chances.

By the time she finally did reach town, she had gotten used to the fumes it was still terrible. It was no wonder that the few plants that she saw were all dead the air smelled like rusted metal but worse.

"I ask again. How can egg belly stand this? It smells worse then HIS breath!" She said to herself.

"KEEP WORKING!" A robotic voice said.

"What the?" She asked, running to the source of the voice.

She ran down an alley way and saw a group of robots, heavily armed with lasers, and they surrounding a group of prisoners! Those prisoners seemed awfully familiar to the blue female hedgehog. That's when it hit her!

"AMY! CREAM! CHEESE! CHOCOLA! VANILLA!" She almost screamed. "What has Robotnik done?"

Her five friends were total messes she barely even recognized them. They looked more like slaves from Egypt way back when. A robot suddenly pulled out a laser whip, and hit Vanilla!

"Mother!" Cream cried, running to her fallen mother's side.

"KEEP WORKING!" The robot said and raised its whip again to strike Cream!

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" She cried and grabbed the whip!

"What the?" She heard Amy saying.

"Hurry, get out of here!" She said, pulling down the bot.

She then saw that her five friends looked totally scared. She then saw that they had shackles attached to their legs or in the choas' case, around their whole lower bodies.

"Oh boy." She whispered.

She gave the bot a good kick and ran to their aid. She reached down and pulled hard at the chains, causing them to snap! Amy was freed from Cream, Cream was then freed from Cheese, who was then freed from his twin, and the golden choa was then freed from the older rabbit.

"Come on!" She said, helping Vanilla to her feet.

She quickly took the lead, letting the others follow her. She didn't know anything about this city but she couldn't leave her friends with those bots.

'Come on, come on let me find us a place to hide.' She thought.

She then made a sharp turn into an alleyway. She then quickly looked around, if they didn't find a place to hide, they'd be caught and who knew what would happen if that happened?

"Quickly, this way!"

"Huh?" She looked down and saw a familiar pink hedgehog.

'ICY!' She thought, relieved to see her friend.

"Come on!" She said, pushing the manhole cover a side.

"You heard her!" She told them. "Get moving!"

Amy quickly climbed down, with Cream following, the two choa hanging onto her ears, Vanilla then went down, and finally she went down herself. It was a quick climb down the ladder, and she was finally relieved when her feet reached the ground.

"Are you all alright?" Icy asked.

"Yes, I think so." Amy said. "If it weren't for her, I don't think we would have been." And the pink hedgehog pointed to the blue one.

Icy quickly walked up to her, eyeing her suspiciously. Amy's look alike slowly circled her.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Shelby, Shelby the Hedgehog." She said, confused. Even if Eggman had taken over, there was no way Icy would ever forget her, or any of the others.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Icy asked, her icy pink eyes sparkling cold.

"You could say that." Shelby said, watching one of her best friends continue to circle her.

"Where are you from?" Icy asked.

"I come and go as I please." She said, eyeing Icy just as much as she was her.

"Are you a member of the Freedom Fighters?" Icy asked.

"Sort of, I move around so much, that I never really remain anywhere for too long." She answered.

"Good enough for me." Icy said. "I'm Rika, I'm the leader of the Freedom Fighters here."

'WHAT!?' Shelby thought. 'Rika only wants me to call her by her nickname, Icy! What's going on here?'

"So, how long you plan on staying?" Rika asked.

"Not sure, I've never seen so much damage done to one place." She said. "I might end up staying here for a while."

"Why's that?" Rika asked.

"If I ever see any of this kind of mess, I stop and take it out." She shrugged, not liking having to answer so many absurd questions.

"If you are going to stay here and fight against Robotnik, you'll have to come with me, you five too." She said, looking at Amy and the others.

"Of coarse." Cream said.

"Then follow me." She said and started walking.

All during the walk, Shelby took in the differences in Rika. One: She was nicer. Two: She didn't have her usual scowl. Three: She didn't recognize her. Four: She was wearing baggy murky brown jeans, and a brown top that hung on her shoulders. Five: She was more accepting to others. Six: Her fur was a little ratty now. Seven: She was walking now, instead of running. Eight: Her eyes weren't nearly as cold as before. Nine: She wanted to be called by her actual name now, and she began to search for number ten.

"Here we are." Rika said.

They had arrived at a wall and Rika gave it a push, revealing an under ground base!

"Wow." Amy said in awe.

"Been a slave to Robotnik for years, never seen a Freedom Fighter base before?" Rika asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head.

"You're gonna love it." Rika said, walking into the base.

'She never says 'love'!' Shelby thought. 'Something is very, very, very wrong here.'

The group slowly walked into the base, eyeing everything they could. However, Shelby was more into those who were in the base. She recognized each and every face but there were terrifying changes, they had scars that weren't originally there, they were missing certain scars, some of them were even missing some of their body parts! The first one she noticed to have such a change was Bat the Bat. He was originally blind and had scars over his eyes, but now, he was missing one of his ears and had a small bit of the other missing.

'What's happened here?' She thought. 'Everything is…different, there's no way anyone, not even Eggman, could do this much damage in just one night. Where am I?'

"Shelby?" Rika asked.

"Huh? What is it?" She asked.

"You seemed to be a little lost." Rika said.

"Just thinking." Shelby replied.

"'Bout what?" Rika asked.

"Well, I used to have a lot of friends who look like the Freedom Fighters here, but they don't look the same as the ones here." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But you just said-"

"I know, but they're missing things that my friends have and they have things that some of my friends are missing."

"Such as?"

"That bat over there." She said, pointing. "He looks like one of my friends, but he has his eyes, my friend lost them both fights, making him totally blind, and he has both of his ears."

"Someone who looks like Bat? That's a first." Rika said.

"Bat?" Shelby asked. "Strange, that's what my friend's name is too."

"Really?" Rika asked, a bit of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, there were a lot of us, but I haven't seen them in a while." Shelby said, leaning against a wall.

"What happened?" Rika asked.

"Well, something came up and I had to leave." Shelby said, looking to a monitor.

"What where they like?" Rika asked.

"Well, they all had a strong sense of justice, some of them were against us at first but we managed to show them the light." She said, remembering them.

"Like?" Rika asked.

"There were only two of them really, Bat was one of them while Kite was the other." She said, remembering the fights that opened their hearts.

"And you trusted them?" Rika asked with shock in her voice.

"The door's to their hearts were closed, both of them were fighting some of my friends, Kite was going up against Tesshin and Bat was going up against Ken and Kagetora. Kite had gotten a long stick caught in his collar, and was caught in the nook of a tree. He was going to be strangled to death but Tesshin pushed him up, keeping him from dying. Ken and Kagetora had mercy when fighting Bat, something no one had ever done. If they had met people like us sooner, I think they would have made better choices but if they hadn't, I don't think we would have ever met them."

"You think so?" Rika asked.

"Well, we've gone through quite a lot, so maybe." Shelby said, closing her eyes.

"Who are you thinking about now?" Rika asked.

"A very special friend of mine, her name's Icy." She said, remembering her. "You sort of remind me of her, only, she's much colder around others, been that way ever since…"

"Ever since what?" Rika asked.

"It…It's nothing" She said.

"Sure doesn't sound like nothing." Rika said.

"It was just very painful and leave at that." She said, opening her eyes.

Rika looked into her pain filled eyes, it most certainly wasn't 'nothing'.

"Look, it was about a month after her father died." Shelby said knowing Rika wasn't going to give. "She started dating this guy and he hurt her really badly. I'd rather not go into details. Let's just say that after that, things were never the same again."

"She was hurt badly, wasn't she?" Rika asked.

"Yep." She nodded.

"Did he get roboticzed?" Rika asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "He…turned traitor."

Rika looked at her in shock!

"Joined Robotnik. Been trying to kill us for a longtime now." She continued. "We barely got away with our lives the first time."

She didn't know if it was true or not, something very fishy was going on here, and knowing him, he probably was with Robotnik. She mind was then drawn to two others.

"Now what are you thinking about?" Rika asked.

"Two of my best friends, Topaz and May. They're my best friends, I wonder if they're okay. I…wonder if they're even alive." Shelby said, looking to the ceiling.

"Don't worry, where might we find them?" Rika asked.

"Well, Topaz usually hangs out around the Mystic Ruins. And May is usually at Angel Island." Shelby said, knowing that May was usually at a mall if not the Floating Island.

"You mean the Floating Island?" Rika asked. "No one lives there. Only a bunch of Robotnik's factories are there. And the Mystic Ruins is where Robotnik keeps the prisoners ready for the rooticzer."

"Well, you don't know them like I do." Shelby said. 'But, what if something terrible is happening to them? What's going on? What has happened to the world? And what about Topaz and May?' She thought.

Little did Shelby know, her two friends were wondering the same things that she was.