Training Methods
"So what you're saying is, Metal Sonic will return, and we have to train for his arrival?" Espio asked Sonic.
"Yep. We have two years to train. Once two years are up, he'll show up in the mountains somewhere. All we have to do is find him and destroy him." Sonic looked at Shadow, who was looking down at his hands. Shadow looked at Mitsuko in disappointment and anger.
"So I really AM just a clone of the real Shadow?"
"That's true. The real Shadow is up in space on the ARK. He might be looking at us right now." Shadow looked up into the sky with a smile. Sonic looked at Mitsuko.
"Hey, how about we go ahead and get some of that Chaos power?" Shadow quickly looked at Sonic.
"Get some? Don't you have the chaos emeralds?"
"I meant, the device that can give us Chaos blood."
"Chaos blood?" Shadow looked at Mitusko. Tails walked up in front of everyone. He took out the capsule Mitsuko gave him and pressed the button. The capsule exploded and out of the smoke appeared a needle and a small heating container. Tails looked at the items in confusion. Mitsuko walked up to him.
"Here's what you do." Mitsuko picked up one of the chaos emeralds Sonic lied out. He put the blue emerald in the container. "First you heat up the emerald. This will soften the outside of the emerald, but liquefy the emerald energy inside. Bet you didn't know about THAT, did you Tails?" Tails was surprised to hear this new information.
"As long as I've been studying the Chaos Emeralds, I should have BEEN known about that! And I'm pretty sure not even Eggman knew about it!" The container started to beep. Mitsuko opened the container and took the emerald out. He grabbed the needle.
"Next, you take some of the liquid out." He stuck the needle inside the emerald and extracted some of the blue liquid. He held the needle up.
"Who would like to go first?" Sonic stepped back.
"Not me, I don't trust needles. Or at least some of them." Mitsuko quickly stuck the needle into Sonic's arm.
"AHHHHH! That hurts!" Mitsuko took the empty needle back out. Sonic stopped yelling. He started feeling energy flowing through him.
"I…feel…great!"
"Now, try to feel how you feel when you want to be Super Sonic."
Sonic started focusing. He started feeling like he did when he went super against Chaos, Metal, and the Biolizard. Suddenly, he transformed, with a golden aura flowing around him. Everyone became surprised. Tails looked and saw the emeralds still on the ground.
"It really works…" Tails looked surprised and happy, having hope in the next fight against Metal. Shadow quickly walked to Mitsuko.
"My turn! Do me next! And hurry up!" Mitsuko quickly extracted the liquid and planted it inside Shadow. He took a big sigh as he felt the power flowing through him. He looked into the sky.
"Hahaha…hahahahahaha!" Sonic looked at him.
"What's so funny? Can't take the power?" Shadow looked at him in confidence.
"Take the power? I've already controlled it!" He looked at everyone else. "There's no need for you to train. I KNOW I have the power to take this Sonic copy down. You would just be wasting your time. I'll handle Metal ALONE." He looked into the sky. "Now if you excuse me, I have some training to do. Chaos Control!"
Everyone watched as the flash of light took Shadow away. Mitsuko was the first to speak.
"I hope he knows he doesn't have to SAY chaos control to actually USE it." He looked at Sonic. "Why is that Shadow so… impatient and rude? That's now how the Shadow I know acts." Sonic gave a smile.
"That's how Shadow has ALWAYS acted, even when we first met." Sonic looked at everyone. "Who wants to go next? How about you, Chaotix?"
"No thanks." Espio said.
"What? What are you saying, Espio?"
"I'm saying that we would like to participate in this fighting group, but individual as a fighter. I don't copy techniques, I make them." Espio glared at Mitsuko. A big drop of sweat rolled down Mitsuko's head as he scratched it and laughed.
"Hey! I want Chaos powers! Give me some!" Charmy argued.
"You'll get your own chaos powers! Chaos RING powers!" Vector encouraged him.
"I guess I'll see yall in two years, then?" Sonic asked.
"Roger that. See you then, Sonic," Espio said. They walked off. Sonic looked at Rouge. Rouge had already read his mind.
"I want emeralds in my hands, not my blood. Thanks for the offer, but I'll do things my way. Have fun with your training." She looked at Knuckles. "And I'll be training to beat YOU, especially Knuckles. Train as hard as possible, because in two years I'll be a struggle alone."
"I'll always be ready for you, Rouge." Knuckles said in confidence. Rouge flew off. Knuckles looked at Mitsuko.
"That's a nice device you have there, kid. But if there's any chaos power I want, I'll go to Chaos or the Master Emerald for it."
"Ok. I thought everyone would want to have some. Guess my predictions were wrong."
"We already have the two strongest people with it. I don't think we'll need anymore, especially for someone like Metal."
"Besides, Knuckles can handle his own, right?" Sonic said. Knuckles gave a small chuckle as he flew off back to Chaos and the Master emerald. Amy stepped up.
"Of course, you don't expect us to fight. We aren't fighters, we're lovers. Isn't that right, Sonic?" Amy nudged on Sonic. He quickly jumped back. Mitsuko tapped Sonic with his elbow.
"Maybe you should take her offer. She seems like a nice girl."
"Yeah, nice and freaky! So, what are you going to do? Are you gonna go back to the future?"
"Well, I can't. I'm stuck here. But hopefully I can train with you. Would you mind?"
"No way! I'm not training! I don't NEED to train to beat Metal. I just beat him. He's just looking for another whipping from me!" Sonic looked at Tails. "Are you training, Tails?"
"No, I think I'll stick to the mind of the fight. In case you get hurt bad or anything."
"Alrighty then! Let the two years begin!"
And so, the two years began, with each individual training differently.
Shadow appeared in the ARK. He looked around.
"Shadow!" he called. Suddenly, he heard his voice.
"Who's there?" The entrance door opened up, and there stood the REAL Shadow. He was surprised to see his clone standing in front of him. "How…how did you know I was here?"
"Don't you know about the hedgehog from the future?"
"Hedgehog? From the future?"
"You weren't watching?"
"I watched Sonic destroy Metal. But after that I went back to my own business. What are you doing here?"
Shadow explained who the boy was and why he came. Then he said how the boy knew him from the future.
"So, now that I'm here, I can start training in your gravity chamber."
"Gravity chamber? I don't have a gravity chamber."
"What? Build one!"
"Do you know how long it would take? It'll take AT LEAST a year. That's HALF the time you've got!"
"Then make it snappy! I don't have time to waste!"
"Maybe if you HELPED, we could finish it in less than a year." The clone got frustrated.
"Sorry, but I have training to do." He walked to the window. "I'll be back in a year and 10 days. If it's not done, I'll destroy this isolated wasteship." Shadow glared at him.
"You wouldn't DARE." Shadow put his hand out and shot a blast, destroying Shadow's chaos emerald research. "No!"
"I DARE you." Shadow chaos controlled back to earth to start his training in the wilderness.
Knuckles reached Chaos and the emerald. He explained to Chaos what was going on.
"And I think you should train, too. In case something happens to me, you can take my place as guardian of the emerald. A guardian even as strong as the one now."
"Blubblub, blub blub," Chaos blubed.
"I was thinking about how to train, too, and I got an idea. We will spar until two years are over. That means no breaks, it's nonstop." Chaos nodded his head in agreement.
"Then let's get to it!" Knuckles and Chaos started sparring.
The Chaotix were in the forest. They had finally found the last chaos ring.
"This makes three rings." Vector said.
"Yay! Now I have power!" Charmy shouted in joy.
"We have to be REALLY careful with these. They're the last rings on the planet. AND they're the key to our power."
"Roger!" Charmy and Vector said in unison.
"Let the training begin!" Charmy yelled.
Rouge was in the president's office. She had explained to him the situation.
"But there's nothing to worry about, president. The situation is all under control."
"I'm sure it is, with Sonic aware about this." He replied.
"All I ask is to have my training room updated, so I can get the best training possible."
"No problem, Rouge. You obviously have some sparring to do."
In 3 months, Rouge walked into a huge room with mechanical traps, lasers, and other stuff. She was ready to train.
A whole year passed since Mitsuko first appeared. Shadow returned to ARK to see how much Shadow had to do in the next 10 days. He opened the door. Shadow stood right on the other side of it.
"Is it-"
"Finished? Have a look…" Shadow walked into the gravity room. He was amazed to see the huge empty space he had to spar in.
"Good job. I owe you some gratitude."
"No need to kiss my ass. I only built it in record time." Shadow clone closed the door to start his training.
Mitsuko was on the beach training. He stopped when he got exhausted to take a break. He looked at Sonic, who was lying on the beach, getting his tan.
"Shouldn't you be training? It's already been a year, and all you've done was have fun and settle down."
"No need, my friend. Metal was nothing, and he will be nothing. Don't worry yourself." Amy walked outside. Her stomach was big, and it wasn't because she ate too much.
"Sonic! What are you doing sitting out here? You should be training!"
"I told him!" Mitsuko bragged.
"Why aren't you training…to be a daddy?" Mitsuko fell to the ground. Tears started shedding from his huge eyes.
"We're doomed!"
