Chapter 4: Lost Lab Experiments

"Look at this room. What do you suppose it is?" Sonic pushed the already open door open a little farther, revealing a laboratory filled with all kinds of mutant-experiments?

"What on Mobius are those? They're creepy looking!" he pointed to possibly the weirdest thing he'd ever seen, a hedgehog cross with a porcupine.

"It's just a hedge-pine, as Scarlett nicknamed them. They're hybrid, a cross between a hedgehog & a porcupine."

"But if we don't get outta here, they'll multiply! &-& we'll be eaten alive!"

"Get a hold of yourself Sonic, they're hybrids; a hybrid can't breed like a non-hybrid can; it'd be incredibly rare for it to happen. & these experiments have been dormant for over fifty years, so it's impossible for them to come back to life."

"I guess so. But what are those?" he pointed behind Shadow & to a large container which held a sort of green glob of some sort of jelly-like substances that were moving.

"Geez Louise! I prayed I'd never see those things again. Sonic, whatever you do, don't touch them."

"I can see why, because they're moving…" he examined them a little more closely, "& growing!"

"You're kidding. Right?"

"Wrong."

"Sonic, I just want you to know, that no matter how many times you try to destroy those things, they'll always grow & multiply themselves-faster than they did the first time."

"They progressively breed faster as you kill them?" his voice squeaked right when he said "faster," "That is just wrong!"

"Believe me. I've already tried to do that once & not even my Chaos Energy can kill those things." just then, one of the green globs moved towards Sonic & tackled his head & pinned him to the floor, "& they tend to make sneak attacks too."

"Get this thing offa me! Whoa! Oomph!"

Shadow kicked the giant, green glob several times before it actually let go of Sonic's head, "Got it! Now let's get out of here & warn the others; these things are multiplying."

"& attacking!" the two ran out of the room locking the [now demolished] door behind them.

The cobalt hedgehog looked to Shadow, who was running next to him, "Did that thing just break the door down?"

"That's just an ounce of their strength. Even Knuckles would be surprised to see what they can really do."

Sonic's eyebrows went straight up & seemed to lock into place as his eyes & pupils grew to the size of saucers, "You're kidding. Right?"

"No way." as the green glob caught up to them, it leaped into the air & was coming down on the two hedgehogs, "CHAOS CONTROL!" & landed on an empty floor.

TASH&MB2

"Guys! Tails, is the Blue Typhoon ready yet?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"We've got company! That's what's wrong!" he used his thumb to point backwards to the door which was being beaten by several globs.

"I've only got eight out of the ten engines fixed."

"Is it enough to get us offa here?"

"No, I'll have to fix the rest of the engines before we can actually leave."

"Then hurry Tails! We don't have much time before-" an explosion that shook te entire ARK Colony was heard, "-experiment JUMBO 17.5B escapes."

"I don't like the sound of that name. What does it mean?"

"Jurassic, Unfossilized, Model of Baboon of Owerri."

His pupils shrank to the size of pinholes, "I have no idea what that is, but we're dead meat."

"It's just what it says it is: an unfossilized model of a Jurassic baboon from Owerri, Nigeria. The Professor created him before me. He got locked up because he went out of control…up until now."

"Professor," the blue hedgehog looked up at the blank ceiling that showed nothing but models of various WWI & II airplanes, "why did you have to come up with some crazy name for a baboon?"

"That was my exact thought when I first heard that name." remarked Shadow.

"Why is it that we are always in synch at some points?"

"I don't know."

"I feel as if I can hear what you're thinking sometimes! It's crazy!"

"Then are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"To combine our attacks to defeat that thing?"

"You just read mymind!"

"You asked me to!"

"Let's just defeat this crazy thing & its green, giant, & ugly globs."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Daddy, wait!" Flora ran up to her father & hugged him tightly, "If anything happens to you, like last time you fought JUMBO, I want you to know that I love you very much." she buried her face into his chest fur while hugging him, & cried softly, "I love you Daddy."

"I love you too Sweetheart. I love you very much; more than anything in this whole world. & don't worry Flora, nothing's going to happen to me. Okay?"

Her tear-filled eyes looked up at his crimson eyes, & she nodded her head, "Okay."

"I'll see you later. Alright?"

"Alright Daddy. I love you."

"I love you too."

Sonic placed his hand on little, black hedgehog & rubbed her back soothingly, "Don't worry Flora, I'll keep Daddy out of trouble. Won't I Shads?"

"You sure can." he looked back down to Flora, "Now I have to get going. I love you Flora." he tried to gently pull away, but Flora kept clinging to him, "Flora, I need to get going."

"Flora," intervened the cobalt blue hedgehog, "if it makes you feel any better, would you like to stay with Scarlett while Daddy is gone?"

She nodded her head as Scarlett came up from behind & picked up Flora, "Come on Sweetie, Daddy's gonna be back. Don't worry."

"I'll see you guys later. Bye guys!" Sonic waved to their friends & family before getting ready to looked over to his little daughter & smiled at her before leaving & mouthed the words, "Don't worry. I'll be back. I promise." before verbally saying, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

They were transported to a large arena-like room with a dirt floor, "This should be where JUMBO is if we're to find him. The Combat Room."

"Why was Flora so upset at you leaving to fight this JUMBO? It sounds pretty bad."

"I was severely injured when they sent me to bring him back to his cell."

"How bad was it?"

"Enough to break my spine & leave me paralyzed for several months before they could bring a doctor to ARK, & I also broke several other bones along with my back."

"Why couldn't they just send you down to Earth?"

"Because the ride would've caused more damage & I wasn't allowed to leave Ark because I was property of G.U.N."

"Property?"

"I don't have any kind of birth certificate to prove that I'm alive. The only form of "certificate" I own is a sort of birth certificate that I was able to obtain was by proving to a judge my existence, how I was created, & that I have the same intelligence as a human being does."

"I don't know how you couldn't prove that you're intelligent. I mean, it's obvious that you're walking upright like a human & can figure out science & math equations that even Tails would have trouble trying to figure out. Geesh, did you have to go through some sort of test to prove it or just grab a bunch of scientists?"

"Both. Sonic, you don't know how hard it is to figure out the Fourth Dimension & various other things. Like working out the portals from Earth, the Mushroom Kingdom, & Mobius."

"You actually understand how those things work?"

"Yes, I do. Chris's grandfather, Chuck, probably wouldn't be able to figure them out."

"Can you tutor Tails for me? He absorbs things like a sponge! & he's got a long-term attention span, especially when it comes to scientific mumbo jumbo & other related topics. Seriously, have you ever tried to teach someone how to work out a problem when they come to you for help?"

"Actually, yes, I've taught Scarlett, Maria, & Flora the really complex equations that they couldn't understand from the Professor."

"Scarlett? Our Scarlett knows really complex scientific stuff?"

"She's done a lot in her time…sewing, languages, various families of the martial arts, cooking, home economics, advanced chemistry, art, crocheting, knitting, quilt making, farming, she used to do wood working, mechanics, gardening…there's a ton more that even the average teenager couldn't do & I can't even keep track. She is quite skilled."

"Gardening? How on Mobius, can you do gardening in Space? On a space ship! & how does she know all of these things?"

"There is the Greenhouse Room & she has a photographic memory."

"What?"

"Like I said, she knows a ton more than the average teenager."

"Good grief! I'm going to go see her after this is all over with."

"Uh…Sonic, we've got company…"

"Huh?" he slowly turned around to face the ugliest baboon he'd ever seen in his whole life, & probably the only prehistoric baboon he'd ever see, "Geez Louise! That's JUMBO?" he laughed as he pointed his finger to the accused, most ridiculous-looking, robotic baboon screeching his head off on the other side of the room, "Really Shadow, I think you'd better stop exaggerating your stories, because, they could really cat-"

"WATCH OUT!" Shadow pushed the lecturing blue hedgehog out of the incoming attack of JUMBO.

"Did that thing just-?"

"It did. It can move as fast as we can & it can break some bones. It knows the martial arts which is how it did a sneak attack on you. Don't let his looks fool you."

"I won't anymore." then he whispered, "You take him on the back & do some sort of Chaos attack on him. I'll go up around front & distract him. Ready? Go!" the hedgehog shot off before the other could even say anything to him, which was a bad move since Sonic got punched right in the stomach & thrown back into the wall that was at least fifty feet or so behind him.

"Sonic," Shadow began scolding, "you can't just go right up to him & demand a fight; you have to ease your way in. I'll perform Chaos Spear & then you go in to the front & do several Homing Attacks on him."

"Okay." he watched as Shadow shouted "Chaos Spear!" & as several spears hit JUMBO's back & caused the metal to tear open, revealing JUMBO's mechanical parts inside.

"Go Sonic! Now! I'll try to deactivate him!"

The blue hedgehog ran as fast as he could & performed the Homing Attacks on JUMBO's chest, limbs, & stomach.

The fighting lasted for an hour, & one by one, their friends came & helped them, with each one taking turns at deactivating the annoying primate, leaving them all badly injured, until…Shadow was thrown on the floor, which had caved in earlier, revealing the piping underneath, breaking his back.

"Shadow!" Scarlett ran to the hedgehog.

Sonic quickly turned to see what had caused Scarlett to run so quickly from the fight, "What's wro-oh, God…" he ran over to where Scarlett & Shadow were, "What happened? Shadow, are you okay?"

"I think I broke my back when I hit the piping." he groaned in pain, "I can't move anything, & if I try, it only hurts worse."

"Scarlett, can you Chaos Control him to a hospital on Earth without moving him?"

"If I were to try that, I'd have to be really careful."

"Try it anyway. He has to get to a hospital before he gets even more injured, & possibly paralyzed for life."

"Okay." she leaned to the hedgehog lying on the ground in front of her, & gently took his hand, "Promise me that you'll tell me if I hurt you or anything, I don't want you to get even more hurt. Alright?"

"I will. I promise."

"Buona. We'll meet you at the Main Hospital in Rome, Italy."

"Okay. We'll meet you there."

"HURRY!" shouted the kit, who was running towards them, "I've deactivated JUMBO, but there are more robots than we can handle. We'll have to leave immediately if we want to stay alive."

"But won't the robots overrun ARK?" said the black & red hedgehog.

"No, you see, they won't overrun ARK, they'll just keep running until their batteries are dead, but that'll take a long time. Close to a year or two. & besides, they're too dangerous for us to stay here until they do run out of battery life."

"Okay. Scarlett, take Shadow to the hospital, we'll meet you there soon."

"Okay, I'll see you later Sonic."

"Later & ciao for now."

"Ciao! Chaos Control!"

He & the fox kit watched as the two disappeared, "What happened to Shadow?"

"He broke his back…again." he seemed to be deep in thought when he said "again."

"What do you mean "again?" Is he okay?"

"I'll tell you later. I promise. But for now, let's get back & help-ouch!" he cringed as Knuckles got punched really hard in the stomach, "Hey Knux! Are you okay?"

"…Not…really…" he groaned.

"Knuckles, we have to get out of here now!" cried the fox kit.

"Alright, I'm coming!" he started running toward the group.

They gathered everyone up & they left quickly for the Blue Typhoon, where they took off for the Main Hospital in Rome.

"Hey, Sonic, will you tell me what happened to Shadow?"

"He told me that he broke his back when he first fought JUMBO when he was on ARK-& we talk about ourselves having the "hard life." He's had it worse than any of us; all of those tragedies were thrown at him all at once-one right after the other. I mean, first he loses Shea, then his kids, then he breaks his back, & he lost everyone he loved because some stupid idiot thought that he was "dangerous!" " he lifted his hands up in a defeated manner.

"Do you like him as a friend? I mean, I thought that you two were rivals."

"No, Tails, we aren't rivals anymore; I'm his friend, & he's my friend."

"He's your friend?" the kit never thought he'd see the day when those two became friends, "I never thought that he'd ever choose someone else besides Scarlett, Maria, or any other Robotniks."

"I know. He surprised me too when he actually said that he appreciated all that we've done for him."

"He's really changed since he found Scarlett, & Flora. Hasn't he?"

"Yes, Tails, he sure has. He's different now."

TASH&MB2

"What'd you do?" yelled the red echidna.

"I think I forgot to fix the last two engines." the kit chuckled nervously.

"YOU WHAT?" now the echidna seemed to be more than angry [this is when his hot temper really reaches its limits, leading to his high blood pressure problem].

"We're going to crash if I can't attempt to land the plane safely! Sonic, go tell every to prepare for an emergency landing.

"Okay. Gotta juice!" he said as he took off running.

The kit & the echidna just looked to one another, "Really," began the echidna, "he has really got to stop using those old 80's & 90's quotes of his. It can really get on your nerves after a while!"

"I know it does." the kit shook his head, "But that's Sonic the Hedgehog for you. Always getting on your nerves."

The kit managed to land the plane without crashing it & there was only one downfall to the whole situation: they were lost in the Sahara Desert of Africa & they had no clue at all on as to where they were.

A/N: Yes, I know! "JUMBO" sounds SUPER-geeky! I had no other choice! It was either "monster robot" or "Jurassic , Unfossilized Model of Baboon of Owerri." Don't ask me where I got that definition! I was just rummaging through the dictionary for a reasonable definition & found that.