Chapter 5: Destruction

Sonic and the others landed safely on the ARK and exited the Tornado. Knuckles was helping Amy off as Sonic and Tails looked around the ARK in amazement. Tails was especially impressed. "I can't believe we're on the ARK!"

"Calm down, Tails. We're here to work." Sonic said with a chuckle.

"I know. I know. But do you realize the technology I can get from here. I can make the Tornado the fastest and strongest plane in the world!" The fox boy replied with excitement in his voice.

Sonic shook his head. "Maybe when we stop Shadow and save Rouge, you can look around the colony more."

Knuckles was not impressed with the space colony for he preferred the outdoors. "Are we going to get this over with? Having to save that bat girl is not my idea of a good time."

Amy nodded in agreement with the echinda and soon the group was off to explore the ARK.

-With Shadow and Rouge-

The hedgehog and bat headed back to the computer room. Rouge was still in pain from her fight with Shadow, but she had managed to conceal it well. Shadow pulled up the video surveillance on the computer and saw Sonic and his friends making their way through the space colony. "Hmph. They got here sooner than expected."

"Oh and look! They brought my love with them." Rouge said pointing to the screen.

Shadow looked at where she was pointing and saw a red echinda traveling with them. He raised his eyebrow feeling something he had never felt before. A pinch of jealousy. "The echinda?"

Rouge laughed harder than he had ever seen her. "Oh hell no! The lovely emerald he has with him. That's the Master Emerald."

Shadow sighed in relief. He felt embarrassed now. How had he missed seeing the large emerald? His feelings for Rouge had distracted him from the obvious. She had made him feel a bunch of unnecessary feelings since their meeting a couple of weeks ago. It was annoying him. He couldn't think properly nor could he think of how to respond to her. "Oh" was all he managed to come up with.

Rouge smiled and looked back at the screen. The computer had picked up two Chaos Emeralds. "Two Chaos Emeralds? But their should only be one left."

"Perhaps it is picking up a reading of the larger emerald. Does it possess the same abilities as the Chaos Emeralds?"

She nodded. Shadow continued. "None the less. Keep your eyes open." He turned to walk away.

Rouge stopped him. "Do you really mean to do this, Shadow? You can still stop this. We can help you."

"No one can help me now." He turned back to face Rouge. "I apologize for not making your last few days enjoyable. I will not require your assistance anymore."

Rouge was puzzled. "Y-you're letting me go?"

He nodded looking away from her. "However, if you try and help your friends stop me, I will not go easy on you." He pulled out the green emerald and extended his hand to her. "Do you wish to go back to Earth?"

The bat grabbed his hand and shook her head. "No I don't. Shadow, Sonic will stop you and unless you surrender now, I can't help you clear your name with G.U.N. I can show the tape from fifty years ago to the president and he will understand."

"You're too naive, Rouge. The people you work for don't understand reason. They fear my power because they can't control it. I will be destroyed either way."

Rouge stood silent. Shadow looked at her eyes again. She looked back into his red ones. "I will stay here, but I won't help you beat them."

"I don't need you to beat them. Just stay out of the way." He released her hand and turned to walk away leaving Rouge alone in the computer room.

She turned back to the computer and observed what location Sonic was in. I have to warn them. She quickly looked through the map of the ARK and though it was confusing, she managed to retain some memory as to where she had to go. She soon left the computer room to go meet up with the others.

-With Sonic and friends-

"Sonic, we're lost. This place is huge." Amy complained.

Sonic looked around and agreed. He had no idea where they were. This was bad. If Shadow chose to attack them here, he would have an immediate advantage. "Just stay on guard. We don't know what to expect."

Just then, the group heard a sound approaching them from the next hallway. Sonic looked at Knuckles and motioned for him to go with him. He looked at Tails. "Stay with Amy."

"B-but, Sonic!" Tails cried, but too late. The two were off.

The hallway was darker than any other part of the ARK, but the noise was getting close. Sonic and Knuckles were sure it was Shadow approaching them. Once Knuckles saw a shadow figure, he took the opportunity to strike. He swung a punch at the figure and hit. "Ow!" A very feminine voice cried.

Sonic and Knuckles looked confused. "Rouge?" Sonic asked.

The bat moved into a more lit area and glared at the echinda. "Yes. It's me." She punched Knuckles back. "Idiot! Why don't you ever think before you do things!?"

"Well sorry! I thought you were Shadow! It's a little hard to see in the dark you know! And a thank you would be nice for coming all the way out here to save your ass!"

"I didn't need you to save me, bastard! I never asked for your help!"

The two were almost at each others throats when Sonic intervened. "Guys, c'mon! We have a planet to save!"

The four of them reunited with Tails and Amy, who were relieved to see that they had a run in with Rouge and not Shadow. Rouge waved at the two and smiled. "Well, well look who it is. I never imagined Sonic would invest time into seeking your help, Pinkie. What are you gonna do? Annoy Shadow to death with your worship of Sonic?"

Amy's cheeks turned red and her blood began to boil. She hated the bat more than anything. "You ungrateful little bitch."

"Rouge, stop picking fights with everyone." Sonic interrupted yet again. "How did you get away from Shadow anyway? Did he hurt you? You're all beat up." He commented on her bruises.

"We got into a bit of an argument but after a bit of talking and a couple of punches, he let me go."

Her remark brought shock to everyone. "He just let you go or did you run away?" Tails asked.

"He let me go. Shadow isn't as bad as he seems. He needs one more emerald to activate the Eclipse Canon. One activated he plans on destroying the entire planet."

"But why?" Amy questioned.

The bat sighed. Her ears dropped down yet again. "For revenge..." She whispered. "G.U.N killed everyone on the ARK fifty years ago and blamed Shadow. He's hurt from that day. I've tried to talk him out of it, but he won't listen to reason." She looked at Sonic. "He's not evil, Sonic. Just misguided."

The blue hedgehog nodded. He looked at his friends. "I'll take Rouge and Knuckles to distract and hopefully stop Shadow. You two take the fake emerald and find the canon's power supply. Stop the canon from being used."

"Fake emerald?" Rouge questioned.

"I created an emerald that will negate the power of the canon once inserted. You guys can hold onto the real emerald. It will distract him." Tails handed Rouge the emerald since she was the closest. "You can count on us, Sonic. Come on, Amy."

Amy looked at Sonic before following Tails. "Be careful."

Sonic nodded and watched the two run off. He looked back to Knuckles and Rouge. "Alright, Rouge. Where is Shadow now?"

"Right here." A voice appeared from the dark hall. Shadow stepped out of the shadows(AN: sorry about the pun heh).

Rouge gasped and put the emerald behind her. Sonic and Knuckles took guard. Shadow looked at the bat and smirked. "You just can't stay out of trouble, can you, Rouge? And I even let you go."

The three of them stared down Shadow, but his eyes were only focused on the bat. She took a fighting position getting ready to fight him again. "I'm sorry, Shadow, but I can't let you do this."

Sonic chuckled. "Alright, Shadow. It's time to finish this. There is three of us and one of you. How can you hope to beat us?"

The black and red hedgehog charged at the blue one. He swung punch which Sonic dodged using his speed. Knuckles took this chance to try his luck at the black hedgehog. He went to punch him only to find that he was no longer there. Sonic shouted. "Knuckles, watch out!"

But it was too late. Shadow had used the Chaos Control to get away from Knuckles. He kicked the echinda and was now face to face with Rouge. She stared back at Shadow seeing the coldness in him that she had saw in their previous battle.

Sonic rushed to Knuckles' aid. "He can use the Chaos Emerald to warp." He said helping him to his feet.

"Heh, thanks for the info. A few seconds too late though. So how do we beat him?"

Shadow approached the bat. He didn't give her a chance to attack this time and used her previous wounds against her. He gripped her sore wrist as tight as he could without breaking it. "Give me the emerald."

Rouge shrieked with pain which attracted the attention of her allies. Sonic and Knuckles wasted no time and rushed to her aid. Shadow kept them at a distance using the Chaos Spear, but it didn't hold them off for long. He released Rouge and turned his attention back to them. "Fine, I will get the emerald later. You two will die first."

"Sonic wind!" Sonic shouted. A gust of wind engulfed Shadow, getting him away from Rouge. "Rouge! Run!"

"I can fight." She called back. The bat took charge at Shadow and tried to drop kick him. He grabbed her and swung her at the hedgehog and echinda causing all three to fall.

Sonic got up first and used a roundhouse kick to buy his friends some time. While Sonic and Shadow were clashing. Knuckles helped Rouge up. "Rouge, I know you want to fight, but we can't let Shadow get the emerald. You have to get out of here."

Though she didn't want to, she nodded and headed out through the hallway. Shadow noticed her trying to escape and turned his attention away from the blue hedgehog. Knuckles stopped him with a punch to the face which caused the hedgehog to fall back to Sonic. Sonic attempted another Sonic Wind. Shadow used the Chaos Control and got behind Sonic and Knuckles. "There's no time to play games. Farewell." With that he chased after the white bat.

Sonic contacted Tails. "Have you found the power supply yet?"

"Not yet, Sonic. What happened?"

"Shadow's going after Rouge for the Chaos Emerald. We don't have much time. She can't out run him forever."

"Try and stop him. We'll find it."

Sonic looked at Knuckles. "Let's go."

Knuckles nodded and chased after Sonic.

-With Rouge-

Rouge arrived back at the computer room. She tried to catch her breath, but was given a very short time. Shadow had wrapped his hand around her throat. "Give me the emerald, Rouge."

"S-shadow, listen...listen t-to me." She struggled to speak.

Shadow didn't want to hear her. He held onto her throat tighter until she revealed the golden Chaos Emerald. He let go of her. The bat gasped for air and leaned her head on the black hedgehog's shoulder. "Shadow, please. Please don't do this."

"This world will pay with their lives."

"What if I can show you that you're wrong? Would you stop this?"

Shadow didn't move or answer. He placed his arm around Rouge. She snuggled closer to him and immediately Shadow didn't want to see her suffer. She can't interfere. "Rouge..."

She got off of him. "I know what you are going to say, but please give me a chance if not them. Why should I have to pay for what those idiots did half a century ago?"

It was a reasonable argument. Shadow would not admit it, but he had grown to truly enjoy Rouge's company. She made him feel like himself again. Something that hadn't been done since Maria's death. Rouge held the emerald out to him. "I'll give it to you because I trust you will make the right decision."

He looked from the bat to the emerald in her hand. He took it from her and held it up. She smiled at him. "We could start over. Forget this whole thing ever happened. We could become friends and I could protect you from G.U.N. Neither one of us have to be alone anymore"

"It's wishful thinking Rouge, but..." He began. Rouge's eyes widened in horror as he tossed the final emerald onto the Eclipse Canon. He place his hand on Rouge's face and smirked. "But my mind is made up."

"Y-you..."

"I'm sorry, Rouge. I truly did believe that you and I could have been a great team, but my devotion to Maria is worth more than anything that you could have given me."

Rouge stood in shock as Shadow removed his hand from her face and approached the computer.

Tails and Amy arrived just in time to see that they were too late. The ARK began to shake violently causing Rouge, Tails and Amy to collapse. "CRASH COURSE SET FOR EARTH. IMPACT IN APPROXIMATELY TEN MINUTES" The computer said.

Shadow looked over to the trio. "You are all too late and you were fools to believe I would fall for your fake emerald. The ARK will collide with the Earth destroying everything on that worthless planet."

Rouge stood back up. She felt incredibly stupid and betrayed. "I believed you could change, Shadow. It was foolish of me to give you the emerald as a peace offering. You must understand that for me to give up a gem even at the cost of my life is the biggest symbol of trust I can ever give." She was hurt and now Shadow had regretted it. She looked at Tails and Amy. "Warn Sonic."

"Don't worry. We have a plan B." Tails whispered to Rouge as the two headed off.

Rouge nodded and watched them leave. She turned back to the black and red hedgehog. "Shadow."

"Enough, Rouge. What's done is done. There is no going back now."

"Shadow, I know there is a lot of evil in the world, but there is good as well. Sonic and his friends are proof of that. They save the world everyday and while I may enjoy snatching up some jewels, I don't mind saving the world sometimes as well. Shadow, I am begging you. Give them a chance to be happy. Give me a chance."

And that was it. Rouge's words had finally reminded of Maria's true final words. He turned to the bat. "Rouge..." He finally understood why Rouge had reminded him so much of his friend. Maria was guiding him through her. But it was too late. He couldn't save the world and he couldn't save her.

–

Author's notes:

So I never really liked that Amy talked Shadow out of blowing up the planet in SA2. In the comics, we can see that Amy and Shadow have a bit more of a friendship, but in the game it never made any sense to me. So I changed it up a bit. This chapter was a bit shorter than most, but I really was so stuck at this one. I hoped you liked it anyway.