Amey and Shadow returned to the dragonspeaker's home village, but could not stay long, as Ciro's mission bore heavily on them. They decided not to speak of the encroaching threat of mankind, lest they cause a panic among the citizens, but simply said their goodbyes and made promises to return safely. Once Amey had gathered sufficient supplies to get them to the next major region, the pair set out once more, their destination seeming to be impossibly far away.
Two days passed since they first set out on the well-traveled dirt road, and they were relatively uneventful. But on the third day, they reached the bank of a shallow but wide stream with a small bridge over it. Amey stopped, put down her sack of supplies and approached the bank of the stream.
"I'm just going to get a quick drink, okay?" she said before dipping her hands into the water. But no sooner did the first droplet touch her tongue than did she spit it all out. "This water…I don't know what's with it, but it's disgusting!" she exclaimed. Shadow suddenly formed a ball of energy at the tip of his finger, and shot it several dozen yards upstream. The energy ball caused the water to flare up explosively, startling Amy.
"This water's been tainted with something; it's fairly concentrated, too," Shadow said grimly. "If you hadn't spit that out, you would have been dead before tomorrow morning…and anyone else who drank it would have been dead in minutes. I'm amazed it hasn't killed any of the plant life around here yet.
"…Could the humans have already gotten this far in?" Amey said with grave concern. "We have to warn the council…"
"No. There's no time," Shadow replied. "The fact that it's so concentrated at this point means the source isn't far. Come on." With that, he started to the north, where the water was coming from. Amey followed close behind.
It didn't take more than an hour or two for the pair to find the source of the pollution: a large, foreboding metal fortress emblazoned with an insignia resembling a man with a wild, unkempt mustache and a wide, unnerving grin, one that Shadow instantly recognized. The two were hiding behind a large boulder. The stream that issued forth was not the stream that Amey had drank from, but an artificial ditch that poured out filthy, boiling water from a grate just outside.
"So…you've finally made your move, Doctor…" Shadow said.
"…Doctor? Who are you talking about? Is he the one who made you?" Amey asked. Shadow was silent, but the pink hedgehog could tell that she had guessed correctly. Eventually, he gave her an answer.
"The face there is of Doctor Ivo Robotnik, better known as Doctor Eggman. He was once a brilliant, but mad human scientist, but copied his memories and knowledge into an android. He is a master of both robotics and biotechnology, and lives on an artificial island where he watches over the sleep of about 200,000 humans."
"…Two…hundred…thousand?" Amey gasped. "I never knew there were so many!"
"Billions of humans once lived on this planet. At last count, there are between five and six million humans in stasis on artificial islands like Eggman's…the last survivors of that horrible day."
"Billions…no wonder they nearly destroyed the world…" the pink hedgehog sighed. "And to think, we're the only ones who know about their imminent return." Amey noticed that Shadow was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation, and decided to drop the subject. "Anyway, how do we get inside and stop the pollution?"
"The fortress is run entirely by a mother computer," Shadow replied, before realizing that much of the terminology he had been using was unfamiliar to this girl who had grown up surrounded by nature. "…That is, a mechanical and electric brain of sorts. We destroy the brain, and we stop the entire base, and the pollution. But it also has a lot of machine guards. They won't be affected by your flames as easily."
"So, how we approach this, then?" Amey asked.
"Hmmm...If the brain is underground like it usually is, then we can probably get there through the pipes."
"You, mean we have to wade through that poisonous water? I'll pass," the pink hedgehog replied with great disapproval. "Let's just go through the main gate, take out the guards, and then smash the brain."
Shadow didn't like that idea either, but he seemed to have yet another plan in mind.
"Amey, I'm going to try something I've only done a few times before, but if it works, it will allow us to get to the center of the fortress easily. Take my hand and don't let go." Amey blushed at this statement, but nervously took hold of Shadow's left hand. The black and red hedgehog closed his eyes and began to concentrate as a massive energy built up within him.
"Chaos…Control!"
Both of them felt their bodies stretch right down at the atomic level, and then accelerated to near-light speed, right into the building.
The next thing either of them knew, they were inside the building, having passed through several dozen feet of dirt, concrete and metal. They landed safely inside a dimly lit and somewhat dusty hallway, indicating a lack of use.
"Shadow…what did you do? That was…incredible…" Amey said with shock, still a bit woozy from the sudden acceleration and deceleration. The black hedgehog, on the other hand, was completely out of breath and barely able to stand up, though he was very much alive.
"Chaos Control…I'll explain after…" Shadow gasped, "…This is all over…just let me, rest a moment." There was once again silence between the two, save for the sound of Shadow's heavy breathing. Amey took this time to get her bearings.
A ladder extended upwards for at least a hundred feet, ending in what appeared to be some sort of hatch. The other end of the hallways led into total darkness. Amey's dragon blood enabled her to see better in the dim light, but even that was limited. She felt around the hallways and felt some cables along the walls, covered in a strong plastic coating.
Curious as to where they led, she decided to follow the cables into the darkness, leaving the still resting Shadow behind, her hand remaining in contact with the cables at all times. As she followed them, she noticed the number of cables increase more and more until it seemed like the entire upper part of the wall was covered in them. She also began to hear the sound of whirring fans and the rush of water. Soon enough, she came to a large metal door with the words "Warning: Access Restricted" in the human language. Unfamiliar with the letters, she had no clue as to whether she was going the right way.
"…Amey!" Shadow called out suddenly. She turned around and saw Shadow running up to her, looking very angry with her.
"Don't wander off like that," he scolded her. "In all likelihood, the brain knows we're here and has notified the guards, and probably has some defenses ready."
"Huh? I didn't hear any sort of alarm," Amey replied innocently, shrugging her shoulders.
"Let's get this over with before the guards arrive." Shadow grumbled, approaching a control console for the doors, while Amey looked over the door, vainly trying to force it open. Unlike most password doors, it was arranged not with a simple numeric keypad, but more along the lines of a typical computer keyboard. Shadow looked at the console, squinted at it for a moment, then punched in a sequence of letters, reading "Emperor Eggman". The sound of air pressure being released issued forth, and the metal doors opened.
"Um…how did you make the door open?" the pink hedgehog asked. "All you did was poke at those lights…"
"Just come on, and keep your guard up," Shadow replied, annoyed at his companion's constant questions. They ran down the long hallway that the door revealed, and found a vast chamber at the end. A myriad of computer monitors, CPU towers and cables were laid all over the room, surrounding a large central tower. As soon as they set foot inside the room, another set of metal doors slammed closed behind them.
Suddenly, the central tower opened a hatch and projected a blue, holographic image of something: an egg-shaped human with long gangly legs and an impressive but unkempt mustache, wearing thick goggles, tights and a long-sleeved coat with large brass buttons and other decorations.
"My, my, I didn't expect to see you again so soon, hedgehog," a voice, also issuing from the central tower, spoke. Shadow recognized both the image and voice, though Amey did not. "I see you've survived your little trip across the ocean. I should have expected no less from my greatest creation!"
"You must be Doctor Eggman…" Amey said. "You're polluting the water in the area! Stop it now, or we'll smash this room to bits!"
"And who is this, hedgehog?" the hologram said, finally noticing the pink hedgehog. "I see you've found some companionship. Good for you! She seems to mean business, but I can't understand a word she's saying! A moment, while I start up the translator function." The hologram leaned forward, and seemed to be pressing buttons.
"Doctor, she's right," Shadow replied. "The runoff from the cooling systems has been polluting the water, and it's going to kill everything in the area if something isn't done!"
"Fine, fine," the hologram of Eggman replied dismissively, "I'll have a cleanup crew fix whatever leak must have sprung when I find the time. I'm a very busy scientist, you know. By the way, I'm afraid you'll have to find your own way out…assuming you can survive the defense system! Ta-ta!" With that, the hologram disappeared just as it was letting out a belly laugh. Moments later, numerous armored turrets dropped down from the ceiling near the central tower, which then put up a glowing blue barrier around itself as well as all the other computer towers.
"Um…Shadow…what are those?" Amey said uneasily, pointing at the turrets.
"…Enough with the questions, damn it!" Shadow cried out. As he screamed, all of the turrets opened fire. Both hedgehogs instinctively jumped out of the way, and rushed behind separate computer towers. The bullets bounced off the barriers harmlessly, but still both hedgehogs feared for their lives.
"Damn it," Shadow thought. "There's no way I can dodge them all without…no, I just used one a little while ago…I can't afford to risk using it again…no, I have no choice…"
Shadow drew the katana and began concentrating, as a massive amount of energy built up within him.
"Chaos…Control!"
This time, Shadow did not stretch out as normal. Instead, all of his surroundings inverted colors and quickly halted, right down to the bullets stopping mid-flight. Using the limited amount of "time" this version of his power to the best of his ability, he quickly rushed around the room, slashing each of the turrets once. With only a few "seconds" to spare, he delivered a spinning slash to the last of them. As time resumed normally, all of the turrets fell apart almost simultaneously. To Amey, Shadow had disappeared for a split second, reappeared in front of her, and all of the turrets suddenly fell apart. The black hedgehog, exhausted from having used Chaos Control twice in such a short period, slumped over and drifted into unconsciousness.
Fearing the worst, Amey shook him, then rolled him over and put her ear to his chest, with a flutter in her own as well. To her relief, she could hear the beating of his heart. With the turrets out of the way, all that remained was the well-protected, but still defenseless central tower. She dragged him toward the wall and laid him there before returning to the central tower.
She poked and prodded at the barrier for a minute or two, but could find no way to break through it. She then turned to one of the monitors, where another keyboard was next to. Figuring she could solve out the problem by pressing the buttons, she started to do so, randomly pressing buttons. She did for several minutes without any results. As time passed, her mere pressing of buttons eventually gave way to her slamming his fists on the keyboard in sheer frustration, and eventually, her hand struck a small red button just next to the keyboard itself that had the words "Emergency System Shutdown". Much of the whirring and humming of the various computer towers, as well as the barriers, ceased as the entire facility died down. Moments later, a few red emergency lights flickered on.
"I think I did it!" Amey cheered. "I stopped the barriers; Now to smash that central tower!" She turned right around and walked toward the central tower. Once again, she brought forth her dragon wings, and inhaled deeply, before belching out another blast of fire, this time condensed into a single fireball. To her dismay, the central tower didn't even look singed by the blast. Just then, the monitor she had just been typing at hummed back to life, and an image of Doctor Eggman appeared on screen. His skin was pale, whil his mustache was colored like red earth, and his coat was red with large, shiny brass buttons.
"Well, it seems you've managed to deactivate my facility temporarily," he said, this time remembering to activate the translation program, allowing his voice to be translated into Amey's native language. "But all you've really done is attract my attention, hedgehog. But I must say that I'm very interested in you now. Tell me, how is it that a dragon and a hedgehog can produce a child? I can only assume you're some sort of outcast, with wings like that!"
Amey scoffed at the scientist. The village had never persecuted her for her dragon blood. Sure, she had been viewed differently her whole life, but they never meant any harm. Unbeknownst to her, Shadow was starting to come around.
"Even if you weren't, I doubt you'll be well-received anywhere else. People will fear you and call you a monster, unworthy of anyone's caring or affection. Even, Shadow, a being born entirely from a test tube, must fear you!"
"Shut your mouth! I've had enough of you!" the pink hedgehog cried out.
"Oh come now, I did not mean to insult you. I am merely stating the facts of the nature of intelligent beings. You Mobians, as you call yourselves, exhibit so many similar traits to your human forebears."
Amey was now too angry to counter that. She was about to furiously attack the screen, when it suddenly blinked out. She turned around to see the central tower sliced in several pieces, and Shadow, good as new, sheathing the katana.
"Don't let the Doctor get to you. He is…no…WAS extremely smart, but to the point of being insane."
"But he compared us Mobians to the demonic humans!" the pink hedgehog retorted. Shadow, who had been mostly calm and composed at this point, finally snapped, getting right up in Amey's face, his eyes burning with indignation.
"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR CONSTANT SLANDER OF HUMANS! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU? THEY WERE NEARLY DRIVEN TO EXTINCTION BEFORE MOBIANS EVEN EXISTED! SHUT UP ABOUT IT! SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH ABOUT IT BEFORE I SMASH…"
Amey, not used to seeing anyone, especially Shadow, this angry, was absolutely terrified. Her wings retracted, and she stumbled backwards, her back slamming against one of the dead computer towers, tears welling up in her eyes. When Shadow saw this, he calmed down and turned away.
"I-I-I'm sorry…I didn't know you actually…" Amey sniffled.
"No…I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I can't blame you for being raised to think the way you do. It's just that…I'll explain later, let's get out of here. There's no way the guards will be able to repair the brain of this facility now."