Disclaimer: Characters are property of Sega and Sonic Team.
Chapter 4: A Promise Unkept
Fifteen minutes later, Shadow found himself just outside of the space colony, ARK. He was in a brightly lit tunnel that opened up, where the floor continued to have ever-moving light streaming down it.
Another moment passed, and a glimpse of blue fur alerted him to his foe's presence. So far, Sonic did not see him. Of course, as far as Shadow was concerned, this blue hedgehog wasn't even suppose to be here.
"You never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog," he approached Sonic from behind, the blue hedgehog turning to face him, "I thought that capsule you were in exploded in space."
The two began walking, Sonic replying rather jovially, "What can I say? I die hard."
They quickened their pace to a trot, Shadow countering, "So, there's more to you than just looking like me. What are you, anyway?"
"What you see is what you get," Sonic replied non-chalantly, "I'm just a guy who loves adventure. I'm Sonic, the heddgehog!"
"I see, but you know," Shadow retorted, his tone becoming less awestruck and more threatening, "I can't let you live. Your adventuring days are coming to an end!"
Shadow raced full-boar, his levitating shoes gliding over the surface of the space runway. I have to put an end to this. He thought, noting how Sonic kept pace with him easily.
"It's time for me to finish this, Shadow!" Sonic expressed Shadow's own thoughts, the black and red hedgehog grinning wryly.
How ironic. Our minds have similarities as well as our incredible strength and speed. He mused. Much to his disappointment, he had fallen a great distance behind Sonic due to his ponderings.
With a burst of energy, he summoned his power, yelling, "This is the ultimate!"
He warped in front of Sonic, who attempted to attack him. Shadow rebounded with his own somersault, and dashed further ahead.
"You wanna play that way, huh?" he heard Sonic call. To his astonishment, Sonic shouted, "I'll use your chaos control!"
Some how, he's warping with the power of chaos control, Shadow mused, we must be in close enough proximity to the chaos emeralds on the Eclipse Cannon. No matter, I'll still beat him.
The two came into range of each other once again, and continued to home in on each other. Eventually, both stopped, out of breath.
"I told you," Shadow bit out, "I'm the ultimate!"
"One problem, Shadow. Dr. Eggman hasn't put the seventh chaos emerald in place yet. The cannon won't fire. How will you ever truly beat me, now?" Sonic challenged, a hint of laughter in his words.
"Hmph. You think you've got it all figured out, huh? I'll get it in there for him, and no one will stop me!" Shadow countered. Without warning, he used chaos control, vanishing from Sonic's line of view.
---
He rushed into the central control room, locking the emerald he'd grabbed from Dr. Eggman on the way in place. It glowed, the six others doing likewise. He hurried to the control panel, keying in the command for the cannon to charge up.
"What took you so long?" Dr. Eggman inquired, entering the room.
"Sorry, doctor. I took care of that little problem. You're free to attack, now."
The control room was filled with maniacal laughter, the feeling of both victory and doom lingering in the air.
---
In the dark garden, Pyro began to worry. He looked around, making sure no one was paying attention to him. He left the garden, something chao didn't ordinarily do, and headed up the clear blue stairs that led to the chao lobby. He looked around, seeing the doorways to the regular chao garden and the kindergarten. Up another flight of stairs was the Hero garden, but this was not Pyro's destination. He looked around, the chao lobby that connected all the different parts of the chao world, was in a sense, a bubble floating in the universe. It was clear, allowing Pyro to see all the stars around him.
I hope master is alright. He thought. He could see ARK from here; the chao world floated above Earth, and was invisible to most. Only those who knew of its existence could reach it, and only with a transporter.
Pyro looked to the centre of the room, the teleporting device humming. He stood still for a moment, contemplating his next course of action. He spoke out loud, his chao voice echoing, "Should I go, and look for Master Shadow?"
Pyro's shoulders slumped, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. He wiped them away scornfully, saying to himself, "Yes, I should. Crying will not solve a thing! If I want to help Master Shadow, I have to fight! I cannot stay here, not anymore! He needs me!" With that, Pyro stepped on to the transporter, setting his destination.
I cannot stay here, waiting for him to return. I can't do nothing, while he does everything. I can't allow him to sacrifice himself.
With a flash of light, Pyro was gone, the chao lobby eerily quiet.
---
Shadow sat in the observatory, also known as the research facility, on ARK. Shouldn't the Eclipse Cannon have fired by now? He pondered, gazing down at the Earth. The doors behind him hissed open, Dr. Eggman approaching.
"What is it, doctor?" Shadow queried, not even glancing back.
"The cannon, it won't fire. A video clip of my grandfather came up," he explained sounding both anxious and excited all at once, "I don't think the cannon is meant to fire. He must have had another plan entirrly."
"It sounds like we've initiated a different program when we added the seventh emerald," Shadow said decidedly, "even I was not aware of his true intentions. My memory…it's like a puzzle. Some of the pieces are missing."
"So what did I initiate? What's happening?" Eggman snapped, slamming his fist down on the window pane that looked down onto Earth.
"I'm not sure," Shadow replied, "a lot must have happened after my encapsulation. My guess is that professor Gerald became anguished, and acted out through emotions."
"So this means you don't know?"
"Your theory is as good as mine. Perhaps you can find more on ARK's central computer?" Shadow suggested.
Dr Eggman left, leaving Shadow alone with his thoughts. He didn't know why, but he had a sudden urge to listen in on whatever might be going on in the central control room. He made his way over to the abandoned lab, where he could hear everything perfectly.
He could hear a video of his old master, Gerald Robotnik, speaking. He uncovered his plan to have the ARK crash into the Earth once all of the chaos emeralds were collected. He spoke of revenge, so that all the ungrateful humans who had taken everything away from him, could feel his loss and despair.
Rouge's voice echoed, saying all of the things the professor was thinking and feeling. They must be reading his journal now. Shadow thought.
Much of it spoke of how he believed it had been a mistake to create the proto-type of the ultimate life form. He professed deep regret, knowing his research had caused the death of his grand-daughter Maria, and countless others, when the ARK was shut down.
He had gone insane, only thinking about avenging her. Soon, his insanity turned calm, as he went on to explain the creation of Shadow.
Shadow listened more closely now, his ear against the grating.
"Based on my original projections, I was able to complete my project, Shadow. I designed its mind to be perfect, pure. I will leave everything to him. If you wish, release and awaken it, to the world. If you wish to fill the world with destruction…"
What is real? Shadow pondered, are my memories those of the proto-type, or did I truly exist when Maria was still alive?
"Did Maria truly send me down to Earth, to fix everything? Am I the real Shadow?" he asked himself. My memories feel real…
"So that's why you released him from the base!"
Shadow's reveries were interrupted by Rouge's voice. Dr. Eggman went on to explain that the cannon's core was highly reactive, the chaos emeralds were overpowered. Once the ARK reached the Earth, all would be destroyed.
"That mad scientist!" Dr. Eggman exclaimed, not sounding the least bit displeased.
"That should be you, right?" another voice piped up.
I know that voice, Shadow perked up, that's the voice of the female hedgehog
"We have to stop the space colony, now!"
That's that fox! But what are they all doing here?
Dr. Eggman explained the ARK's position may have shifted due to the amount of energy given off by the chaos emeralds. "We have to stop that energy!" he concluded.
But why would the doctor want to stop it? Isn't this what he wanted? Wait…ARK will be destroyed as well. That explains everything. We will all perish, if it hits.
"But how?" he heard Tails ask. Silence reigned for a moment, Rouge's voice piping up.
"Hmm, that's it! There is a way to stop the energy! We have to use your emerald!"
She must be talking to the echidna, he surmised, listening intently.
"You're the one that told me that the Master emerald has the power to stop the chaos emeralds!"
"That's right," he heard Knuckled reply, "if I use this, we just might be able to stop the chaos emeralds!"
The fox, Tails, explained that the reaction of the chaos emeralds was moving toward the cannon's core. "It might be too late!" He exclaimed.
"There still might be some time left, if we pull together." Dr. Eggman suggested. He went on to say that they needed to use the shortcut that led to the core. There was silence as a few hums and beeps came from the nav computer they were using.
Sonic declared, "No worries. Just leave it to me. I'm the world's fastest hedgehog!"
"Then let's get to work!" Dr. Eggman insisted. The alliance had been made. All that was left was for Shadow to remain here. They don't need my help. Sadness crept over him, feeling as though his usefulness had just run out.
Author's note: I hope you've found the chapter enjoyable. I'll hopefully have a few more chapters up later on.