Chapter 7
Home Field Advantage

Kerry saw the blow coming, but it was too fast to stop. It connected and knocked him through the building. As he got up, he thought about how FUBAR this mission had gotten.
Once they had arrived in Brookings, they immediately found Eggman. He seemed to be baiting them. With him had been NMS, a Shadow Android, and a Mecha Tyler, who apparently had a centralized CPU which allowed multiples of him to fight at once. Eggman had ordered them to attack, and NMS had moved faster than his eye could follow and landed a vicious punch to the chest. That was how he ended up in the wall.
He tracked onto NMS and gave chase. He saw Metal also pursuing him. Kerry ramped up his speed and tackled NMS. The grab slammed the android into the ground, creating a crater. As Kerry reared back for a final blow, NMS thrust his hands out flat. A solid wave of air lifted Kerry off his feet, and threw him through yet another building.

Julie yawned. The day's shift had dragged on forever. She was glad it was over. As she headed to leave, she heard an earth rattling shake, and a large, armored body flew through the wall. It hit the ground and skidded across the floor.
It stopped and got to its feet, shaking its head.
"Dang…"
As she turned to see what had thrown this large metal man through the wall, she saw a strange sight. What looked like two robotic porcupines were fighting it out over the building.

Metal saw NMS knock Kerry through the building named "Fred Meyers". Text scrolled before his eyes as his combat processor came up with a solution.
/ALLY: KERRY FREEMAN INCAPACITATED
/NEW DATA: NEO METAL SONIC HAS ABSORBED SILVER THE HEDGEHOG'S PSYCHOKINESIS
/NEW DATA: BUILDING "FRED MEYERS" HAS MASSIVE HOLE LEADING TOWARD ALLY: KERRY FREEMAN
/PROCESSING…
/SOLUTION: KEEP NEO METAL SONIC AWAY FROM ALLY: KERRY FREEMAN AT ALL COSTS
With his new directive in place, he charged toward NMS. He overdrove his jets and slammed into NMS, sending him flying.
His victory was short lived. The newer chassis teleported behind him and unleashed a vicious Psi-Wave, knocking the older flying. Before Metal could orient himself, NMS turned back toward the hole. Energy charged up, but he wasn't aimed at Kerry.
He wanted to damage the girl!
Metal let out a scream.
"NO!"

Julie saw one of the robots shove the other away. It then turned to her. She saw its chest start to glow. She heard a metallic scream of anguish. The laser fired.
She felt a massive weight slam into her, and a feeling of the world turning upside-down. After a few seconds, the weight released, and she was sent flying. She found herself outside the store, with a new hole in the wall. As she got up, she saw the metal man struggle to stand up. His head had a jagged crack down the middle. He reached up and disengaged locks on his neck.
Only as the halves of the helmet fell away did she realize this was a SPARTAN. He turned to her, and her heart skipped a beat.
Here was a man she thought she would never see again. Kerry Freeman looked at her. As she examined his face more, a realization came to light.
He was mad. Not you-pissed-me-off mad, but full on I'm-gonna-kill-you mad. His body emanated a dark, angry red aura. He turned and walked to NMS. He tensed his body and somehow rose into the air. He crossed his arms.
"Chaos…!"
A sudden fear seized Julie. She knew that if she stayed much longer, she would be killed. She turned and ran.
Too late.
"…INFERNO!"
She felt a wave of power hit her, and then nothing. When she opened her eyes, she could see down into the town from a mountain. In the area of Fred Meyers, she saw a gigantic sphere of red energy. She knew nothing inside could survive.
She looked around and saw a black and red hedgehog standing next to her, arms crossed. Julie asked him, "What happened?"
The hedgehog nodded in the direction of the explosion. "That was Chaos Inferno. When uncontrollable rage overcomes a person as adept with Chaos Energy as Kerry, this is what results. The dark power of Chaos took him over, and he had to release it, or die."
Julie took this new information in slowly. The implications of Kerry's obvious new abilities scared her. She couldn't even comprehend it anymore. One last thing niggled at her mind.
"How did I survive?"
The hedgehog made a hmph noise and stated, "I saved you."
Julie cocked her head, "How?"
The hedgehog uncrossed his arms and turned to her. "I can manipulate Time energy using a technique known as Chaos Control. I used it to stop time and get you out of the way."
He held out his hand, "My name is Shadow the Hedgehog."
Julie hesitated, then reluctantly shook his hand. "I'm Julie."
Shadow cocked his head. "I'll be right back."
In a flash of blue light, the hedgehog disappeared. A second later, he reappeared, carrying both Kerry and a bright blue gem. Somehow the little animal was supporting Kerry, who's armor had shredded clean off, and whose body suit was all that was left. Shadow laid him down on a soft patch of grass. He leaned down and listened for a heartbeat.
Kerry coughed abruptly, a fountain of blood spurting from his lips. Shadow laid the gem on his chest and put a finger to his ear.
"Shadow calling Sonic. Yeah, I saw it too. It was Kerry. It took a lot out of him, and we need a medevac now! Alright…just hurry."
He turned to Julie, "Don't worry. Medevac is coming for your friend."
He tried to smile reassuringly, but only succeeded in a smirk. But Julie understood the attempt.

Kerry dreamed. In his dream, he saw the Ark. In one of the many canyons, he saw twin bases. His mind zoomed in on the one near the water. As he went inside, he saw Dr. Eggman tinkering with a metal ball the size of a beach ball.
"Almost…Got it!"
The eye in the center of the orb, which Kerry recognized as the monitor 343 Guilty Spark, flared blue. He started to say his customary greeting, but appeared to malfunction. His eye flickered all across the spectrum, before settling on a peaceful orange. It spoke, his voice immediately familiar.
"Uh…Where…am…I? Who are you?"
Eggman chuckled, "I am the glorious Dr. Eggman. I fixed you, and released your mind into this machine. Who are you? What do you remember?"
The Monitor's eye flared red. "There's someone I have to take care of. As for who I am, that name no longer applies to me. But for convenience, you may call me Ethan."
Kerry woke up abruptly. Seated next to him were Julie and Shadow. Julie held him down while Shadow asked, "What is it!?"
Kerry grabbed his forehead, "A…dream, or…a…premonition…."
He shot straight up. "Call Lord Hood! I know where Eggman is!"