Day 1
As the red plane flew across the water, Shadow took note of something. "Hey, this is January, right?"
"Of course it is," Sonic replied.
"I just can't help but notice how warm it is. Are we in the southern region?"
"Yup!"
Shadow nodded. "That's what I thought."
Shadow thought to himself. He hadn't been on the planet much himself, but he understood enough when to associate weather with what month and figure out where he was. Landing on that ship was not what he had planned. "So what's Eggman up to these days? I mean, what kind of crazy plan does he have this time?"
"Gathering the Chaos Emeralds to power some super weapon of his."
"Oh..." Shadow rolled his eyes at this. "I see some things never changed."
Suddenly, Sonic's ears perked forward when something came into view. "Tails... Is that an island?"
Tails scanned up ahead. Yup, there was definitely an island among the waves. "Yea, it is!" He pointed to a smoking wreck in the distance. "There's the Death Egg too!" This was confirmed when a tidal wave whooshed out from below, an explosion had occoured before.
"Its too close to the island for my likes..."
"Maybe we'd better land, make sure Eggman doesn't take over the island."
"Good idea."
Tails made a circle to land the plane on the beach, a vast jungle making up a good potion of the island. Shadow blinked as they landed. "Something about this place feels familiar..."
Before they reached the island, the speedster jumped off to race along the waves.
Shaow stared in the distance. "Sonic???" He finally decied to race after him, fearing that something bad was gonna happen. Something about this place just doesn't feel right!
Already on land, Sonic continued to race through the jungle.
Shadow tried to catch up to the blue hedgehog, going so far as to activate his airblades and try and navigate the isle flora. It was like the time he was escaping from enemy soldiers thrugh the White Jungle. But this wasn't a military base, that much was certain.
Finally slowing to a stop, the hedgehog looked around in wonder within a clearing.
Shadow caught up to him. "Sonic...WAIT..." He screeched to a stop next to him. "Don't be reckless! We don't know what's out here-!"
"I'm too fast for anything to catch me."
"Don't be so cer-"
Suddenly the ground below them started to shake. "What the-"
Quills bristled, Sonic froze in place.
Shadow's eyes narrowed. This felt familiar, and it WASN'T an earthquake. "Sonic-"
An explosion of dirt and rocks from below Sonic sent him flying, hitting so hard that the four chaos emeralds Sonic HAD been holding went flying out, scattering around him.
Shaking his head to clear it, Sonic blinked at the scattered emeralds.
Shadow, who had also fallen, shook his head clear to look up at what made the explosion. He saw a blur of red before him. "Ah...wha...?"
Violet eyes were glaring at the two intruders before noticing the emeralds, his gaze, if anything, grew even more angry as he snatched up the gems.
Shadow was quick to his feet. "Well well, look who it is..."
"Leave my island, rodents."
"ExCUSE me?" Shadow bristled at this. "Hedgehogs, ya damn anteater!"
"You're still rodents."
"Charming as always I see. The least you can do is hand Sonic's emeralds back."
"They belong to my island, not to some rodent."
"I don't have time for this..." Shadow started to turn away, before taking the red creture by suprise, whiring around and smashing a fist into his face. This gave him enough time to grab one of the emeralds and toss it to Sonic. "Here, take it!"
The hedgehog was quick to snatch it from the air and tried to get another one from the echidna, only the echidna backhanded him away with ease before dissappearing within the ground.
Shadow grabbed Sonic's hand and made a mad dash deep into the jungle, aiming to get away from the spot. "I really hate that guy."
"You know him?"
"His name is Knuckles, you mean you never met him before???"
Sonic shook his head slightly.
Shadow groaned in exasperation. "Great, I'm witnessing history in the making." He sighed before he stopped. "Wait a second..."
"What?"
"If Knuckles is here...and he said this was HIS island..." Shadow stared at Sonic. "...I know where we are."
"Where then?"
"This is Angel Island..." Shadow looked around and laughed a bit. "We're on Angel Island!"
Emerald eyes went wide at that. "Angel Island? The Birthplace of the emeralds?!"
"Exactly! The home of the Master Emerald, the controller of chaos!" Shadow laughed and slapped his forehead. "My first mission and it starts with the birthplace of chaos emeralds!"
Blinking, Sonic looked at him in confusion.
Shadow stopped laughing and turned to look at Sonic seriously. "Listen to me, Sonic. This is going to be a very dangerous adventure, and probably one you'll never forget. There's this...thing out there. It influence people to do bad things. If Eggman is here, then he maybe more dangerous than you may realize. Knuckles too." He closed his eyes. "He's a gullible fool. I wouldn't be one bit suprised if Eggman tricks him into helping him."
"You sure know alot about them."
"I done my research before I went on this mission." Shadow looked aroud, trying to think now as Tails finally showed up, flying down from above. "Hi Sonic, so wht's the scoop?"
"Stupid red thing stole most of my emeralds."
"No way!" Tails blinked. "So lets find him and get them back!"
Shadow sighed. "Knuckles is not someone you can find. He'll find you."
"And I'll be ready for him. He's more than likely going to try getting this gem back." Sonic growled.
Shadow nodded. "Meanwhile, we can start exploring the island, making sure Eggman's not trying to do anything, though I know he is."
"Alright."
Shadow nodded and took off through the jungle, passing through the greens. At one point he stopped, staring in awe. "Wow..."
Sonic stopped beside him and stared.
They viewed a clearing with magestic waterwalls and green trees and beautiful flora. A flock of exotic birds flew by. "Its...paradise"
Shadow breathed.
"Its... Perfect..." Sonic added.
Tails piped up. "Its gonna be messed up if we don't stop Eggman."
Sonic's ears flatted as he glared at the fox. "Tails, thanks for ruining it"
Shadow glared at the two tailed mini-devel. "How about you scout off ahead or something. Sonic and I will check out down here."
"What if the echdina attacks him?" Sonic asked, worried.
"The Echidna is a glider, but as long as Tails stays a good distance in the air, he won't get to him."
"Maybe..."
Shadow spotted a vine strung up in the distance, with a wooden hand swing attached to it. "Hey, here's a good way we can get across the valley to the other side!"
"I guess..."
Shadow grabbed a hold of it. "Hang onto me, Sonic, we're going for a ride!"
Nervous, Sonic eyed the vine with misgivings.
"Come on, Sonic. Don't tell me as reckless as you are, you're afraid to go on a little ride..."
"Doesn't look safe."
"You? Worried about safety? Since when?"
"Simple, Tails can't catch me."
Shadow rolled his eyes, grabbed the swing, and took off, grabbing onto Sonic with one arm. "Haha!"
Ears folded back tightly against Sonic's skull.
As they swung across the valley, they got a GREAT view of all the beauty. Shadow let out a rather uncharacteristic "WHOOHOO!"
"Wow..."
"This is great!" Shadow held onto Sonic a bit tighter. "I never done anything quite like this before!"
Shivering a little, Sonic continued to look around.
They were able to admire the view for quite a while before they came to a rather gentle and graceful stop on the other side, Shadow letting Sonic down before letting go of the swing. "That was amazing. I never had the time to look around...actually..." Shadow rubbed the back of his neck. "I never been on an 'adventure'...just...missions...never having te time to see anything..."
"How can this place exist like this?"
"Angel Island..." Shadow bit his lower lip before his eyes widen, smacking his forehead. "GODS, I'm such an IDIOT!"
"Now what?"
"I knew there was something off about this place! Its in the water!" Shadow groaned. "No wonder Knuckles was pissed."
"Wha?"
Shadow turned to look at Sonic. "The reason this place can exist like this is because no one can reach it..." He took a deep breath. "Its supposed to be a floating island."
"It floats?! But... Neo Island does as well."
"Where??" Shadow never head of such a place.
"Its my home. At the moment, it's floating close to Station Square."
"Station Square..." Shadow started to say something but shook his head clear. "Anyway, Angel Island uses the Master Emerald to float high in the air."
"I'd like to see it sometime."
"The Master Emerald? Yea, right, Knuckles usually tries to kill anyone that comes near it."
"I don't want to steal it, just look at it. Its hard to explain but the gems call to me."
"Yea, I understand that, but Knuckles...he's not exactly the most reasonable guy." Shadow sighed. "Still...something had to have happened..."
Emerald eyes gazed down at the remaining greem gem he held. "I want the gems back... I worked hard to find them..."
Shadow was quick to answer. "I'll help you."
"Eggman was after the gems as well...I had no choice but to find them first."
Shadow nodded just as a large shadow passed over them. "Huh...?"
Blinking, Sonic glanced upwards automatically.
Shadow looked up as well, in time to see a fleet of machines passed overhead. Shadow's word was simple enough to understand. "...Eggman..."
"Oh my goodness..."
One of the machines lowered down into the jungle, flames jetting out of the side. The flora nearby caught aflame and lit up. "SHIT! He's gonna try and burn down the forest!"
"NO!" Pure anger showed on Sonic's face at the thought of the beautiful forest being destroyed.
The machine flew off in one direction, the fauna making a mad dash to escape the killer flames. "We gotta stop that thing...or all of Angel Island will burn to the ground..."
Not even responding, Sonic took off like a bullet.
Shadow ran after Sonic, kicking on his air jets to keep up with the blue hedgehog. "The hull looked pretty flimsy. I think a few spindashes will take that thing out of commission. I can't guarantee it won't blow up though."
An ear twitched, showing Sonic heard before suddently increasing his speed, a sonic boom thundering as he streaked up towards the ship.
Shadow picked up the speed to try and catch up with the blue hedgehog, just as they caught up with the machine into a clearing.
Still moving faster than sound, Sonic caught up, slamming into the metal.
The force of the spindash sent the machine into a tree, setting it ablaze.
"Its over, Eggman!"
The machine sputtered and came back up, ready to shoot jetflames at the hedgehog again. Shadow growled and took a step to try and take a shot at the machine himself.
The speedster avoided the attacks as he struck again.
This time the machine hit the charred ground, pieces of metal flying.
Grinning, Shadow attacked it again.
This time the machine explode, the blast sending Sonic flying backwards into Shadow, who flew against a tree, grabbing at Sonic's shoulders instinctively.
Disoriented from the blast, the blue hedgehog sat there, blinking stupidly for a moment.
Shadow had to shake his head clear before he murmured. "You...you got it..." He stared at the smoking, burning wreckage.
"Don't feel good..."
"You got hit by the blast. You'll be okay inna few minutes." Shadow stopped to stare as what looked like a translucent smoke with red eyes rose from the machine, bound with dark chaos energy.
Sonic was looking dumbly at the smoke in confusion.
It glared at Sonic for a few minutes before it took off in a random direction, leaving the two hedgehogs in the burning forest.
Slumping, Sonic rubbed his sore head.
"Somethin tells me this is gonna be a long adventure..." Shadow yelped and jumped when something started to burn at his back, knocking Sonic over. "SHIT! We gotta get outta here before we burn to death!"
Scrambling to his feet, Sonic darted from the fires.
Shadow made a mad dash after Sonic, starting to cough as they hit a hotter part of the forest. He wasn't used to all the smoke, having lived in purified air all his life. "Watch it!" He dodged a falling branch was was burning, ash and embers flying off.
"RUN!"
Shadow ran with Sonic, even grabbing is hand to help lead a safer path through the burning woods.
The blue speedster was stumbling a few times.
They ended up stopping on a cliff, seeing the valley burn. "We have to get across-!"
"The valley... Its ruined..."
Shadow looked towards the swing. "Grab onto me, we're getting across."
Nodding slightly, Sonic did as told.
Shadow held him tight with one arm, grabbing the hand swing they were on before with the other hand and started to swing across the burning valley. As they soared across, Shadow stared at all the damage to the beauty. Is this what happens when you don't stop to notice anything? You lose sight of it? Everything beautiful was being destroyed. Just like Maria, the one who raised him. A tear came to his eye at the thought.
Sonic's ears were folded tightly in dispair at the ruins.
They suddenly jerked to a stop and bounced dangerously.
Blinking, Sonic looked up at the vine.
The vine was set ablaze and was starting to slowly burn apart. A small snap and the line jerked, bouncing them lower. "SHIT."
"I don't want to fall!"
"You're not gonna die. You CAN'T DIE." Shadow gripped a hold of Sonic tighter and looked down. "We have a chance to live."
"We're too high!"
The vine snapped again. "Trust me, Sonic, we'll make it!"
Sonic was clinging tightly in terror now.
Shadow looked down at Sonic and his eyes immeditely softened as his arms tightened. "Sonic...I..."
Sonic's ears were tightly folded.
A final snap and they were sent plummeting downward. Immeditely both arms grabbed onto Sonic.
Unable to help himself, Sonic screeched.
After what felt like forever, they plunged into the warm waters of the main river that ran through the valley, which were fast and rough.
Panic gripped the hedgehog completly at finding himself in water.
Shadow kept ahold of Sonic and he fought to get Sonic to the surface. "Sonic, I got ya!"
Sonic was struggling wildly to get out of the water.
Shadow was struggling to keep ahold of SOnic above the surface. "Sonic, calm down, I got you, I won't let you sink!"
Tiny claws were scrambling at the rocks they went by.
"SONIC!" Shadow grabbed at Sonic's hands and pulled Sonic close to his chest, all while kicking his feet to stay above the river's surface. "It's OKAY...its okay."
Wild paniced emerald eyes were wide, ears folded under his soaked quills.
Shadow dared himself to actually look into Sonic's eyes, locking with them.
Purest panic and fear showed clearly.
"I will NOT let you go. Do you understand me?"
Sonic's only response was to cling tighter.
Shadow held onto Sonic before he stared off ahead. "Sonic...I want you to do something for me, okay?"
"...what..."
"Close your eyes and hold tight, okay?"
Swollowing, Sonic shivered, doing as he was told.
The roar of the river got louder, until Sonic felt the sensation of falling.
Sonic screeched in purest panic as he dug his claws in.
Shadow winced as he held onto Sonic, and they both punged into the river below the waterfall they went over.
Completly terrified, Sonic clung to the other hedgehog like a leech.
Shadow swam them up to the surface, where the water was a lot more calm: they landed in some kind of lagoon, just on the edge of the valley.
The frightened hedgehog had his eyes tightly closed.
Shadow held onto Sonic tightly and carried him to the shore.
Quills and fur completly soaked, the hedgehog shivered.
Shadow was soaked as well, shivering as he held onto Sonic, trying to keep warm.
The hedehog shivered badly for a few minutes before quieting down.
"C-come on..." He helped Sonic to his feet. "W-we have to keep moving...w-we're out of the fire..."
"I...hate... waer..!"
"...I know...I know..."
Still shivering, Sonic kept his ears folded back against his fur.
"Come on...let's get outta here..." Shadow led Sonic out towards the waterfall, to scale the rocks upward to get out of the valley.
Still shooken up from the fall and near drowning, the speedster followed.
Shadow climbed up, eventually finding a cave behind the waterfall, a safe place to hide in and rest till they were ready to move on. "We can't stay long...Eggman's still out there."
Nodding slightly in understading, Sonic curled up in a corner of the cave.
Shadow sat close to Sonic, to keep warm until they were able to get dry, the roar of the waterfall rather soothing and peaceful.
Gradually, the blue hedgehog calmed down from his fright, dozing slightly where he was curled up.
Eventually, Shadow had to wake him. "Hey..." Shadow gently shook his shoulder. "Sonic."
Emerald eyes relucently opened at the wake up call.
Shadow spoke lowly near him. "We have to go."
"Alright... Hope Tails is ok..."
Shadow nodded. "I'm pretty sure the kid is fine. He's rather tough for his age. And smart."
Getting to his feet slowly, Sonic ran his fingers through his fur and quills in an effort to straighten them.
Shadow, having preened before he woke Sonic up, looked around the cave. "I wish there was another way out of the valley."
As if right on cue, Sonic's green emerald started to glow bright as a mini sun, rishing up into the air. "Whoa-!"
Blinking for a moment, Sonic watched the gem in surprise.
Shadow breathed in awe as he stared up at it. "What is it doing?"
As if in answer to his own question, a golden light shone from deeper in the cave.
Sonic looked towards the light in question, already heading for it.
The chaos emerald floated near Sonic. At the back of the cave was a huge floating golden ring.
"How strange..." Reaching out, Sonic tried to touch it.
Sonic seemed to be able to stick his hand through the ring...like some kind of portal. It was a ring portal!
Eyes wide, Sonic hopped through without hesitating.
"Sonic!" Shadow chased after the blue hedgehog through the portal. They appeared in some kind of weird dimention with nothing about but floating in it. The world was filled with chaos energy though. Shadow blinked. "...feel that...?"
The blue hedgehog's quills was bristled from the energy.
Suddenly Sonic's emerald took off like a shooting star in a random direction.
"Hey!" Sonic raced after it.
Shadow ran after Sonic, finding it weird they were able to run despite having no ground. "Where's it going???"
"Maybe another emerald."
"It'd better be-" No sooner did Shadow say it, then they found the blue chaos emerald glowing brightly in the distance as the green one shot towards it, beginning to circle it.
Delight showed in Sonic's eyes in reaction as he hurried towards them.
Shadow arrived with Sonic. "Alright, two for us. Not bad."
Smiling happily, Sonic snatched both of them.
A bright flash eminated from the two emeralds, and before they both knew it, they were back on Angel Island, standing at the top of the waterfall. Shadow had to blink a few times to clear his vision. "...what...just happened...?"
"We got another emerald..."
"I kinda figured that-" Shadow stopped as he stared outward.
Emerald eyes looked out at the destroyed valley.
Everything was charred black from the fires, which had finally died out. Shadow's eyes softened at the damage he beheld.
Blue ears were folded back in dispair at the sight.
Shadow's hand tightened in anger now, and eyes harden to an angry look. "Eggman...he's gonna pay for this."
"Knuckles has to be angry about it..."
Shadow growled and turned, headed off towards another part of the charred forest. "Let's get outta here."
"I really hope Tails is alright..."
Moments later, they heard a roar in the distance, and Shadow stopped, turning to see what he heard.
Frowning in confusion, Sonic's ears moved in the direction of the sound.
They saw what looked like a zepplin in the distance flying towards them.
Growling, Sonic glared at the ship.
Shadow's eyes narrowed as it headed towards them; he didn't like this. Suddenly his eyes widen and he grabbed Sonic's hand, breaking out into a dead run, towing him through the forest. "MOVE IT!"
Yelping in surprise, Sonic tried to get his feet back under him.
Suddenly an explosion behind them sent Shadow running faster, followed by another explosion, and another as the zepplin flew over them. Bombs were being dropped on them!
Eyes wide, Sonic got his feet under him decently and literally took off at top speed.
Another explosion close behind sent Shadow flying forward into Sonic's back, knocking him over and tumbling at top speed. The last of the bombs missed them as the zepplin backed off.
Emerald eyes blinked slowly in confusion where he had come to a stop.
Shadow had landed on top of Sonic's back, pressed against him as his ears rang from the explosion.
"Get off me."
Shadow flipped off immeditely, his cheeked near flushed at the comprimising position.
Getting to his own feet, Sonic glared at where the fires were from the bombs.
Shadow stood up and brushed himself off, stopping when his ears twitched at a peculeur sound.
Sonic's ears were twitching as well, trying to locate the strange sound he heard.
Suddenly a machine moved through the forest at top sopeed behind them, the figure as familiar as it could get. Shadow turned and growled, ears flattening. "Eggman!"
Defently pissed off now, Sonic raced towards it, quills raised.
Shadow chased after Sonic, following Eggman until they lost sight of him near the edge of the forest. The roar of a waterfall told them they were near water again, but this time a bridge suspended across the river to get to the other side.
Fast feet raced across the bridge after him.
They hit the center island in the middle of the river, ready to cross to the other side when the edge came up; the bridge was gone.
Yelping, Sonic came to a sudden stop.
Shadow screeched to a stop right behidn Sonic, trying to keep from running into him. He started to turn, only to find Eggman decending from above in a hovercraft machine. One of the machine's cannon's took aim at the bridge they had crossed and fired, a fireball burning the bridge out of existance. Eggman laughed. "I have you right where I want you, Sonic!"
Panic and anger showed clearly on Sonic's face at finding himself trapped.
Eggman laughed again. "There's no way out this time. And your little fox friend isn't around to carry you to safety this time!"
"You're DEAD, Eggman!"
"Bold words from a hedgehog who's about to die. Now, would you like to be fried crispy, or just do me a favor and drown in the river?"
"How about neither?" With that, Sonic attacked.
Eggman yelped and pulled back, trying to aim a cannon at Sonic and firing.
Doging at the last second, Sonic slammed into the metal.
Eggman fell backwards behind the waterfall. Shadow eyed the silluette warily. "Watch it, he's up to something."
Emerald eyes were fastened onto the blury image.
Suddenly, a cannon pointed out from behind the waterfall and fired. "DUCK!" Shadow reacted before Sonic, grabbing him and pinning him to the ground to avoid the fireball.
"The jerk!"
Shadow got back up immeditely as Eggman appeared from the waterfall to observe the damage.
In seconds, Sonic was up and speeding towards the small machine.
"GAAAH!" Eggman yelped as his machine was smashed, an explosion sending him flying off high into the sky and out of sight.
Snorting, Sonic lowered his quills.
"Whew..." Shadow looked up and grinned. "Hey...we did it!"
"We're trapped here tho"
Shadow spotted some kind of machine on the other side of the mini-island. "Hey...look at this..." Shadow approached it. "Its been sitting here all this time."
Blinking, Sonic looked at it. "What is it?"
"Looks like some kind of holding device..." Shadow pressed a button on the machine to open it. Suddenly, at least a dozen small birds flew out. "Whoa-!"
"They were trapped in there?!"
Shadow nodded. "Apparently. Doesn't the doc need animals to power his machines a lot?"
"Most of the time..."
"Must of been a holding cell for the animals he put in those fleet of machines we saw flying overhead. The ones that toasted the forest."
"Its not right..."
"Since when is Dr. Eggman EVER right?"
Sonic merely shrugged, currently trying to find a way off the small island.
Shadow turned, looking for a way off before he stopped, blinking as he stared across the way. "Uh...Sonic..."
"What?"
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your buddy Red is back..." Shadow pointed to Knuckles across the way.
"Just great..."
Shadow shouted over to the other side. "Hey Knuckles! Be a pal and help us outta here!"
Violet eyes glared, thinking about just ignoring them.
"Come on man, do you really want us stuck here?"
Turning his back to them he walked away, stepping on a release trigger.
"Hey, come-" Suddenly the island they were on began to shake, crumbling as it began to collasp.
Emerald eyes went wide in fear.
Shadow instinctively grabbed onto Sonic and held him tight. "Oh shit, here we go aga-" They beagn to fall fown the waterfall.
"-aaaaaaaaain!!!!"
Sonic screamed in purest fear, clinging tightly.