Me: Back again with chapter four, guys!
Sonic: Dang, that was fast, Prowl! You sure you're not as fast as me?
Me: I'm pretty sure I'm not fast, I'm only human after all.
Fairy Leviathan: *Walks in from the Captain N Series* Hey, you guys don't mind if I read as a guest, right?
Me: Not at all, I don't mind having you around. *Looks to the Resident Mobians* You alright with her being a guest?
Sonic: Totally!
Bunnie: Sure am!
Me: Alright, now with that out of the way, the disclaimer is as follows, have fun reading!
It was another day in Knothole as Sonic was on a run though the streets, he saw a zone portal open up as he stopped, there was Zonic the Zone cop as he was fighting an unknown being, the being looked like an armored bounty hunter flying on a jetpack, using a heavy duty blaster, Zonic was having a hard time dodging the blaster bolts, the shots hit various buildings, and sparks nearly hit civilians. Sonic couldn't take it anymore, he jumped up as he spin dashed into the air, knocking the bounty hunter out of the air, and onto the ground, the helmet was knocked off, Sonic got a good look at who the bounty hunter was, he looked like Shadow, the bounty hunter took the advantage as he took our hero by surprise, giving Sonic an uppercut as Sonic fell to the ground. "Hmm, two hedgehogs for the price of one, though I didn't expect him to interfere, his bounty is worth ten million credits if I also bring him to my contact." The shadow lookalike said as he put his helmet back on, Zonic ambushed him from behind, the bounty hunter chuckled. "Oh yeah, forgot about you, Zone cop. well, looks like I'll have to try harder." He said, taking out pellets neither Zonic or Sonic were prepared as they were taken out with ease, they were alive, but they were unconscious, the bounty hunter smirked. "Too easy." He opened up the Zone portal and dragged the two to his zone.
On a hot scorching desert planet, the Zone portal opened up as the bounty hunter dragged the two hedgehogs through the ground, he activated a homing beacon, a ship flew to the ground as it landed, he dragged the two hedgehogs as he climbed on board, he put handcuffs on the two to make sure they wouldn't escape.
Sonic woke up as the bounty hunter looked at them, trying to get the handcuffs off, but it was no good, the bounty hunter looked almost disappointed. "The more you struggle, the more it tightens, you're no good to me dead if you were killed, you're worth a lot to me if I want to be paid for bringing you in alive." He said, Sonic stopped moving, he knew that he'd never escape if he wanted to live, he couldn't help but figure out why the technology was familiar, then it dawned on him, tails's counterpart came from this zone. "Wait, I recognize the technology you have, if I'm right, we're in your zone." He said, the bounty hunter nodded. "You guessed right, we're in my zone, you may know a counterpart of your two tailed friend that lives here." He said, Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I met him back when Mammoth Mogul was endangering our zones into extinction." He explained, the bounty hunter nodded. "Ah...so that's why he spoke highly of you and Zonic, now I'm starting to wonder why he hired me to kidnap you." He he said, not even waiting for Sonic to react, he went back to his pilot seat as he plotted the course for the destination for the location, jumping into Hyperspace.
An hour later, the ship had exited out of hyperspace, a fleet of star ships appeared before them. "Ah, just in time." The bounty hunter said, he looked pleased. "Now I'll get my pay. As soon as I deliver you to him, I'll get back to what I do best." He finished, Sonic wondered where his Morpher was, he saw it in a containment field along with Zonic's blaster. "Oh, that device along with the blaster? I figure I'll keep them as prized trophies." The bounty hunter finished, Sonic frowned. "Those don't belong to you, you have no idea what's at steak here, my zone's in danger, Mammoth Mogul's still at it, and if I'm not back, then there'll be nothing left of my zone to protect." He warned, Zonic nodded in agreement. "He's right, I've monitored you and your main counterpart, you have similar past, you both were cloned but there's a difference between you two, he uses Chaos energy while you use weapons, and he was cloned from the DNA of an alien known as Black Doom." He explained, the bounty hunter's widened, Sonic knew that the name was familiar to the Shadow lookalike. "How...did you know him?" he asked in shock, Zonic knew there was a story to be told. "Not long ago, your father accidentally came to my zone because his target was on the run, a fugitive, you might say, and both were misplaced from their time, you weren't around back then, but trust me when I say this, I did know your father, he and I were good friends, it wasn't long before he left with his target, and when he got back, you were cloned shortly after when he was made a deal, an army of clones, and you were unaltered, though, I can't say the same, this is where Sonic's side of the story comes in." He finished when Sonic began. "What Zonic said about you is true, but from how I know about my Shadow is that he was created over fifty years ago by Dr. Gerald Robotnik, it was an attempt to help cure his niece, Maria Robotnik, who was the cousin to Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and I'm afraid to say that while Gerald betrayed Black Doom, G.U. N ended their lives except for Shadow, Maria wanted him to promise that he had to protect Mobius, and he was sent to the surface through an escape pod. When I first met him, he was found by Dr. Eggman, who replaced Robotnik after our final duel, and convinced him to fight me as an enemy, then he was betrayed by Eggman when he found out, he works with the very group that killed his family, but for a different reason it was to hunt down Eggman and bring him to Justice, there was a time when Eggman was used by the very thing he created, and we all had a common enemy that took the body of a good friend of mine." He explained, the bounty hunter looked in thought, the story was enough to make him doubt his mission, he deactivated the containment field, both counterparts grabbed their respective items, the bounty hunter looked to the fleet. "I may not be able to continue living, but it's worth dying for you to escape." Shadow said as the two escaped back to where they last left.
The bounty hunter opened the communications channel to see Tails's counterpart in the hologram. "Where's the Zone cop? I want him alive." He demanded, Shadow looked at the evil two tailed fox. "If you want him, you're gonna have to find him the hard way, through ME!" He said, he fired the ship's cannons as the fleet fired on him, he continued on as bits and pieces were blown off of his ship. If this is how I die, then at least I'll go down in a blaze of glory. He thought as he crashed into the bridge of the evil fox's ship part of the ship made it through as Shadow had kept piloting it. "FOR BLACK THE HEDGEHOG!" He screamed as he went through all the bridge, but he was encased in a gold light. It is not your time to die, my son, you still have the chance to make things right. Shadow gasped, he heard the voice of his father. "Father?" He asked to himself, he took a moment to let his father's words to sink in, then he found a new perspective, taking in the story that Zonic and Sonic told him about his counterpart took a moment to breath in and out, he felt the Chaos energy flowing through him. "Chaos..." He began as everything exploded around him.
Zonic and Sonic arrived back in Knothole as the bounty hunter appeared before them. "...Control!" He finished, the two hedgehog's looked confused. "How..." Sonic began but Shadow cut him off. "While you two were escaping, I attacked the main ship of the fleet, and I heard the voice of my father, then I took to heart of your story, I felt the Chaos energy flowing through me, so I used Chaos Control to escape death, I figure the Zone Police need an ally." He explained, Sonic smiled, and Zonic nodded. "I guess...but it's gonna take a while to convince them to pardon you of your crimes." he said, the bounty hunter didn't mind that at all. "I see. I don't have a ship, so I guess I'm stuck here for a while." He replied, Sonic chuckled, just then, the team teleported in. "Sonic, thank goodness you're alright!" Tails said, hugging his friend, Sonic laughed. "Tails, I'm fine, thanks to a Shadow here." He said gesturing to the bounty hunter, the team looked to the bounty hunter, he didn't even attempt to attack them, he held out his hand. "Sorry about the misunderstanding, your friends convinced me to let them go, and I know that I have to earn your trust, but I can't stay in this village long, I'm afraid I'd only cause more fear than help out here." He reasoned, Tails was the first to understand. "I understand, you can't stay long in Knothole, but I know where you can stay." He said, Shadow was teleported to the command center, he looked around, and saw Gosei. "So, you're their mentor?" He asked, he wondered if Gosei was silent, but he was proven wrong. "Indeed I am. You are a version of Shadow The Hedgehog, am I correct?" He asked, the bounty hunter nodded. "I guess, I haven't met him yet, but I want to, I've heard a lot about him." He replied, Alpha 5 came up, but was behind the bounty hunter a few feet away. "Welcome to the command center, Shadow." He greeted, the bounty hunter turned to see Alpha, the two shook hands. "Thanks, but where are Sonic and the others?" He asked, Alpha chuckled. "Oh, they'll be here in just a few moments. But for now, I'd better take you on a tour." He replied, the tour took over thirty minutes as the rangers teleported into the command center, Sonic walked over to the two. "So, how'd the tour go?" He asked, the bounty hunter was impressed. "I have to say, this command center is quite impressive despite how many centuries old it actually is, and I've been given the history debriefing of your predecessors, that's some legacy you all are upholding very well." He said, sonic nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and my family was charged with guarding the Zeo crystal for years until we actually got it back here to keep out of Mammoth Mogul's reach, same with Eggman if he returns back to normal, I'd rather smash Eggman's Badnik's than give up the Zeo crystal." He explained, Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'll help from time to time, but I haven't decided to join you yet, I've got to find my purpose in this zone." Shadow said as he was given a communicator. "Here, just in case we need you, and you can contact us at any time." Sonic explained as the bounty hunter was looking at the communicator, he then thought of his ship and he had no way of getting around, he looked at Sonic. "Is there a ship I can use?" He asked Sonic whispered into the bounty hunter's ear about a certain Bounty hunter who's sister had a ship, Shadow smirked. "That'll do, besides, I'm going to find my purpose here." He chuckled, just then, the alarm went off, everyone turned to the viewing globe, it was a monster that the their predecessors had faced before, but Shard recognized the monster. "That's Knasty Knight, Zack has faced him before, and from what I know, Knasty Knight can deflect our weapon's projectiles back at us, so we need to be careful." He informed, Everyone nodded, was teleported to Knothole as the Knasty Knight was just about to cause havoc, the monster turned to see the rangers. "Well, you arrived just in time, just in time to be Destroyed!" He roared as he swung his sword while charging at the rangers as they dodged, Shadow had a Lightsaber as he blocked the sword, Knasty Knight was surprised by the bounty hunter's appearance in the fight."You're not a ranger, but you have something similar to a sword, I think you'd be interested in having swordsmanship training with me." He offered, Shadow thought otherwise, he wasn't interested in siding with scumbags like the Knasty Knight, though he knew that swordsmanship training was tempting, he put his priorities before himself and his allies. "Sorry, as tempting as that sounds, I'm gonna have to reject your offer, it did sound nice and all, but I have things to do, such as get acquainted with this Zone." He said, Knasty knight's eyes widened in shock, but it soon turned to anger. "Very well, when next we meet, we are enemies!" He declared, and vanished, surprising everyone, including Mammoth Mogul who was more shocked than the rangers, but more importantly, Knasty Knight disobeyed a direct order and was the first monster to have a grudge on on someone who was not a ranger. "Hmm, perhaps I was wrong to bring him out, but I cannot interfere with something so trivial as a grudge, but I will keep watch over him as I will with the rangers." He said to himself, he turned to Finster. "Make another monster, but we cannot do another attack when the rangers are expecting it after today, but we must make do with one who is loyal to me." He ordered, Finster nodded, leaving to make a monster that would be loyal to his friend.
Meanwhile, Knasty Knight was in a far off location as he swung his sword in the air, it was clear that he was preparing to fight the newcomer the next time they encountered one another on the battlefield. "I promise you, my unknown opponent, you and I will meet again, for I am reborn." He swore to himself, continuing to train until the time came for him to fight again.
Back in Knothole, the rangers were taking a rest, mainly Sonic, he had been through enough adventures for one day. "I'm worn out, I just want this day to be over." He complained, Just then, Charles had come back into the room, Shard looked hopeful looked at Charles. "Is Metal Scourge...alright?" He asked, Charles let out a sigh. "The bad news is that his power core was too damaged, and I'm low on parts, however, the good news that Metal Scourge's mind can be transferred to a new body, the only problem is that we don't have enough materials to make it." He informed, Alpha thought differently. "Aren't you forgetting that I can create materials?" He asked, Charles faceplamed, he had forgotten that Alpha 5 had that ability carried over when his new body was built.
Shard and Alpha nodded to each other, then Alpha got an idea. "I think I have an idea for metal Scourge, but it will take all night like it did with the Deroboticizer." He explained, Sonic nodded in agreement. "Well go ahead, I think we'll head home. It's been a long day." He said, everyone nodded in agreement, Alpha 5 nodded, understanding that the rangers were tired, Sally and Shadow on the other hand weren't that tired, but were still worn out.
That night, Sonic was thinking about the days events, he been through so much, he didn't even know what happened to Tails's evil counterpart, but he assumed that the counterpart either escaped or died, and Knasty Knight's revival was something he couldn't take his mind off of, and there was still Mammoth Mogul to deal with.
Over in Castle Acorn, Sally had the same thoughts, but her thoughts were also about the future of Mobius. If Mobius is in bigger danger, then we need more help. She thought, looking to the stars, Sonic did the same thing as both were watching from different views, things weren't going to be easy.
Sonic: Whoa, that's pretty deep for our new resident, so how will our Shadow react to the bounty hunter version of him?
Me: Probably would attack him at first without realizing it, that's how I see it, and that gives me an idea for a future chapter, don't know if it would be used for chapter five, but it's highly unlikely, so for future chapters, it'll remain.
Bunnie: Wow, so this bounty hunter is our ally?
Me: Yep, we'll see him from time to time, but for now I need some rest.
Fairy Leviathan: Well, it's been fun, but I need to get back home.
Me: Alright, see you when I get back to working on the movie. *Watches Fairy leave*
?: Revive me, human.
Me: *Looks at the mysterious figure in fear*...crap...*Turns to the readers* Well, if you want to leave a review, go ahead and do so, no flames, please.