Sonic: Chaos Theory

Chapter 3

Dark Reunion

A familiar black and red hedgehog stands in the middle of a field of destroyed Artificial Chaos. "Worthless piles of scrap." He kicks the last surviving core. "Now to find out who dispatched this force against me. The Doctor always has the cure." He then uses Chaos Control to warp into Eggmans air base, but instead finds himself slamming face-first against the door. "WHAT?!" As he tries again, he comes to the conclusion that Eggman had designed a shield against Shadows abilities. "Now what?" Then he receives a call on his GUN communicator from an old friend that he'd been avoiding for some time.

"Listen hothead, I'm already in. GUN decided it would be best to send in their most discreet operative, not a walking disaster like you. I'll let you in, but only after I get what I came for."

"And that would be?"

"Eggman captured Omega again. He may have valuable information for us."

"Fine, but hurry up! I want to give him a piece of my mind for sending those troops after me."

"Ok, whatever Shadow. Rouge out." She shuts off her communicator as she crawls out of an air vent. "Now, where is he? Eggman wouldn't take Omega very lightly…. So he must be in the level five cell block." As Rouge makes her way around a corner, sticking to the wall, she barely escapes the sight of one of the doctors guards. "Damnit… guess there's no helping it. I have to get into that room to get Omega out." Rouge then jumps to the ceiling and flies around the corner at top speed, kicking the guard-bot in the face, taking its head off. "They're gonna get that signal any minute. Guess the rest is Omegas job." She quickly breaks into the room with a masterful hacking technique, but the alarm goes off a second later in response to the destruction of the guard. On instinct, Rouge kicks open Omegas chamber and pulls him out before the blast doors drop in the way. "Wake up lazy bot." As soon as Rouge hit's the switch, Omega recognizes her presence, and blasts down the door.

"Allow me madam Rouge."

Omega continues to blast down every door that had been dropped with ease, obviously upgraded recently by the very scientists to design the commanders mech, Diablon. Soon, they reach the front door and Omega has no need to open it.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY U WORTHLESS PILES OF SCRAP!!" Shadow then sent one of the Dr.s robots crashing through the door, landing at Omegas feet. Through the doorway they could see that he was fighting a massive group of new prototypes, including miniature versions of the Cerberus and Wyvern.

"A little help over here?" Shadow then waved his arm and fired an array of Chaos Spears, eliminating several at once.

"Omega dear, try not to fall behind." Rouge proceeded to fly into the battle and unleash her new technique. "CHOAS WING!" This unleashed several blades of power from her wings as they flapped, cutting down masses of machines at a time. Now that Shadow had seen her, he realized she had changed into a much greater warrior than he expected. Her wings had grown to four feet wide each, and her speed on the air could be compared to his on land. He stood there paralyzed in amazement as she dashed through the air and kicked through several bots at once.

"Allow me to assist." Omega then unleashed a massive barrage of bullets upon the opposing forces, dropping them like flies.

Shadow is then ambushed by a larger, more powerful prototype, and sent spiraling backwards, then volleyed by the other surrounding machines. Upon landing, Shadow opens his eyes to reveal nothing but a red glow. "Stand back Rouge." He stood up, glowing blood-red, and waited just long enough for her to get out of range. "CHAOS…… BLAST!!" A dome of power spread from him, powerful enough to disintegrate all immediate victims, and crushed all others under the pressure. As the smoke cleared, Shadow stood among the wreckage like an angered god, staring into the eyes of the newest arrival to the fight. "What took you so long Dr?

"Oho! Shadow, my good friend! How long has it been? I've been wondering when you would come to visit. I'm a little busy at the moment to deal with the three of you, so why don't I show you the door?" Eggman then shut the cockpit to his latest creation. It had the wings of the Wyvern, legs of the Cerberus, and the arms were built to contain the lasers of the E-2000 prototype, as well as the electrocuting wrecking ball of his first combat mech, and the lance of the Emperor mech. "Just try and stand up to this without your precious Emeralds!"

Shadow gave an unimpressed smirk, and urged the others to join in." You have no idea who you're messing with." Shadow then took hold of Rouges hand and released a mass of pressure from his skates, launching himself twenty yards into the air, over the Dr.s head. "Rouge, get the cockpit open!" He then threw her at the cockpit, and Rouge dove into a drill kick, but was swat away like a fly and electrocuted by the mechs left arm, and let out a pained cry, landing hard. As Rouge rose, she took a drop of blood from her lip and licked her finger. "Now you've awakened beast. My mother may have been a fruit bat, but my father was a vampire bat!" Rouges eyes began to glow a misty purple, and a similar mist spread from under her wings, slowly spreading across the ships hull to Eggman. "What are you doing?!" Rouge gave the Dr. an insane grin, bloodthirsty and enraged. "I'm not your typical vampire bat. I don't feast on blood, that only triggers me. I feast on energy, and it makes me stronger!" As the mist made contact with the mech, power was drained through its chaos core, and moved through the mist to her. "Guys, his mech is useless, get him!" Omega charged to attack, but Shadow only stood in amazement at Rouges dark side, gaining a newfound respect for her. Omega was only a few feet away from Eggman, trying to get close so he could pry open the cockpit, but Rouge lost hold of the mist, her bloodlust gone, and Eggmans mech stabbed him with the spear, Omega was sent hurtling back and shut down. Rouge saw this and decided that Shadow was the only one who could defeat this mech. "Kick his ass Shadow!" Shadow then turned to the Dr. and gave him a glare that would make Chaos shake in the Master Emerald. "Easy. This scrapheap wont last more than a minute when I do this." Shadow slowly removed simply one ring, and a light began to pour from him like an inescapable flood, and Eggman knew what was coming. Shadow slid at him full speed, tearing all the debris from the earlier fight off the ground, sending it flying off the ship. All Eggman could do was stare in horror as this seemingly unstoppable force came at him. At the last second he extended his lance at Shadow, and the two of them seemed an even match for about two seconds, before the lance shattered and Shadow leapt at the cockpit, deflected the other arm, and shattered the glass. Shadow then warped the ring back into place and the surge of power ceased, as he held Eggman up by his shirt. "Now, What do you have to do with the Artificial Chaos?"

"I swear, I would never use them! My grandfather, an even more brilliant man than I, failed at constructing and controlling them. I wouldn't have a chance. I've been trying to find a way to stop them!" Meanwhile, Rouge was reactivating Omega.

"Hmp… fine." Shadow then tosses him to the ground and approaches Rouge, but Eggman has a request for them.

"Also, they seem to have corrupted all my AI machines. Only my mechs are under my control, and you just wrecked my only good remaining one. Any chance you could help me put my seafloor base to rest?"

Shadow was about to accept, but came upon a terrifying sight in a shattered visor piece next to him. His own reflection had been replaced with the image of Black Doom. Shadow had been trained to never show emotion, and fear was his specialty to withhold. As he stood there staring at the absence of his face, he gave the best answer he could. "Sorry Dr., but I have my own problems to handle. Omega, I have an order for you. You have the most experience with handling his machines, seeing that you are one. Handle this mission yourself. And Rouge…" He slowly turns to her. "I believe that GUN is under heavy fire on several fronts. I'm sure you're the best choice for this. As you've said, I'm too much of a hothead. I'd destroy the whole base and leave my own comrades dead."

"Ok, but where are you going?"

"Don't worry about me, I can handle myself. Be careful out there Rouge." Shadow had already chosen his next destination, and warped out of sight before she could stop him.

"Oh!….. Shadow, why do you always leave me?…… fine I should get going too. Don't end up in the junkyard today Omega." With that, she flew off and headed for the GUN air base.

Now two of the greatest warriors among us are on the trial, but why was Shadow dragged into the fight, and why was he seeing Doom? There's more to this epic tale than meets the eye……….