Chapter 9: Died and Lived to Tell the Story I
Shadow is currently napping on the roof of the base/resort. Sonic is running across the roof checking all sides in case of intruders and such. Shadow wakes up from his nap. He stands then yawns as he looks out towards the sea and takes in the view of the sunset. His eyes then starts to follow Sonic who is still darting back and forth in order to make sure no one interferes. Since Sonic is the watchdog, Shadow decides to go check on Cosmo like she asked them to do every now and then. He walks towards the door that leads to a staircase which brings him to the top floor of the building. The place actually does look like a resort from the inside. There is red carpet which extends to the end of the hallway. The hallway is made of a wooden finish with lights that dot the ceiling in a line. They are bright but not overwhelming. There is paneling along the bottom of the walls which shows a pattern with a blue background and rings in line to end of the hallway on both sides. The ambiance of this place tends to give off a very relaxing vibe. On Shadow's left is the elevator. He hits a button which is shaped like a Chaos Emerald in a green color with the pointy end pointing down. The doors slide open and Shadow enters. He chooses to go the bottom floor and then is asked for the password. It's has to be said by voice. He thinks long and hard about it.
"I don't know," Shadow replies. "What is the smart one's full name? I wish I had a hint."
He gets a hint. On a small screen to his right message pops up giving him the hint. The hint is "Miles per hour. Add per and hour together."
"Miles Prower," Shadow guesses. He is rewarded the sound of collecting a ring and the elevator descents. The door swings open after a wait of a few minutes and the screen to the left shows "Operating Floor." Shadow walks out of the elevator into a waiting room. The lights in here are brighter than the ones in the that were on the top floor. The room has a white scheme going for it sort of a like a hospital. There are huge, green chairs sitting along the walls. Shadow takes a seat in the nearest one. He crosses his arms as he waits for a bit. Cosmo comes in through a door on the other side of the room. She is kind of dressed like a nurse with a little hat on her head that's white with a red cross and a white uniform. She hands Shadow a small box which looks like something you would keep a watch in.
"I got the chip out and cleaned it," Cosmo tells him. "It's yours now. I'm guessing you want to hold on to that until we get her body back."
"What's the deal with the yellow one," Shadow asks. "Is he okay?"
"Uhh, actually," Cosmo says nervously. "I ran into problems with Tails. I need someone to donate blood for him. I can't do it since well I'm a plant alien but you get where I'm going."
"What's his blood type," Shadow inquires. "I'll help out if I can since he helped me once before."
"A positive," Cosmo says.
"I guess I can't help," Shadow says. "I'll get the word out. Leave it to me." He pulls out his Chaos Emerald and yells Chaos Control. He is gone in a flash.
Shadow ends up on the roof right in front of Sonic who is now relaxing since it's nighttime and he can't really see his surroundings except the light that's coming from the opened door on the ceiling. Shadow quickly tells him the situation. Sonic shakes his head slowly and his face shows a sad expression. He runs into the building in order to help Cosmo in anyway possible. Shadow uses Chaos Control in order to go back to the workshop. On this side of the planet, the sun is actually out and it's daytime. Shadow lands in the workshop where he finds Knuckles and Amy sitting around doing nothing. Shadow tells them the deal and they both can't help as well.
"This bad news," Knuckles yells. "We have to find someone who can help us out within the hour our Tails will be gone forever!"
"Cream and Vanilla are gone so we can't ask them," Amy replies. "What are we going to do?"
"What about Rouge," Shadow asks.
"Nope," Knuckles answers. "AB positive."
"How do you know that," Amy questions.
"Uhh," Knuckles hesitates. "That's not the point right now. Tails will die if we don't do something."
"No point in standing around," Shadow says. "I'm going back to the base. "You guys coming?"
They agree and Shadow uses Chaos Control in order to take them back to the waiting room. Cosmo is currently here with Sonic as well. Shadow shakes his at her and turns around without nothing to say. As soon as that happens, Sonic's communicator beeps. He answers this surprisingly convenient call and it is none other than Eggman who proceeds to laugh his ass off. After he stops laughing, he speaks.
"Tails can be saved, but it will take Maria to do it," Eggman says. "I can do it but there's no way that's gonna happen unless you give him back to me so he can become mine once again."
"Damn," Shadow screams. "I'll kill you, you fat bastard."
"Wow," Knuckles exclaims. "Both Eggman and Maria have the A positive blood type. I'm guessing taking the blood from Maria's body will destroy it?"
"Yes," Eggman replies. "No chance in hell I'm doing it unless you give me Tails. Oh and by the way, I know the location of your little secret base now. Don't ask me how I know all of this. It's basically up to Shadow at this point. I'll hand over Maria since I have no use for her, but her body will slowly deteriorate once the blood is gone. So, it's either hand Tails over to me so I can put an even more convoluted method of mind control on him and save him or kill Maria's body."
All eyes are on Shadow and there is only thirty minutes remaining until the hour is gone. He is speechless and his back is facing everyone.
"Shadow," Sonic says as he slowly approaches him. "I know you're mad right now, but we really need this. We can get Tails back on our side. This is too much to ask of you since we came so far and it's pretty obvious at this point that Eggman planned for this to happen, but we need Maria's body. Will you help us out? Will you give us permission?"
Shadow is very angry. He pushes Sonic off of him and uses Chaos Control.
"Shadow," Sonic says sadly.
It's pretty obvious where he ends up. He finds himself in none other than Eggman's control room. Eggman is sitting in his chair with a shocked expression on his face. He really didn't expect this. Shadow rises into the air with his arms crossed. Eggman doesn't have time to escape. Shadow lets loose his Chaos Blast. Eggman is blown away into the wall behind him and is knocked unconscious. Shadow knows his way around this place so he waste no time making for the room that could hold Maria. No robots are in his way since Eggman couldn't initiate any commands. Shadow heads for Eggman's lab where experiments are conducted. As he walks in, the wall across the room has a glass dome on it. In here lies Maria. He punches the glass domes open ignoring the scars on his right arm. That is what made the alarm go off. The door to the room closed shut. Shadow grabs Maria and prepares to use Chaos Control but he is knocked on to the ground by Eggman's newest robot, Golden Metal Sonic. The robot floats over Shadow's head. Shadow checks his watch to notice that he only has twenty minutes to beat this robot and make off with Maria's body. There is a reason why this one is golden. It's made to compete with Super Sonic, not regular Sonic. He obvious can't compete with it. He realizes this fact the moment he notices that it's golden. Shadow pulls out his Chaos Emerald. He grabs Maria by her hair and Chaos Control his way out of there as fast as possible. The robot breaks out of Eggman's base into space and flies towards the planet since he knows where to go and Shadow knows that he has been followed.
Shadow lands back in the waiting room with Maria. He lays her down on the coffee table in the middle of the room.
"Here is the deal," Shadow explains. "We have twenty minutes. You must put the chip in Maria's head, get her soul out, and then take the chip out. With her in control of her body, she won't die by giving blood to Tails. Eggman knew this. You idiots were so caught up in this crap to notice that Eggman wouldn't just hand Maria over. Sonic and Knuckles, come with me to the roof and bring the Super Emeralds. We have to protect this place from the robot that is coming."
"We can't use the Super Emeralds alone," Sonic says. "We need the Chaos Emeralds too."
"Damn," Shadow exclaims. "We have to hold off that robot. Get to work, Cosmo." He hands Cosmo the chip. "To the roof," he orders. Shadow uses Chaos Control to take Sonic and Knuckles to the roof with him.
Sorry for the delay. I'm two weeks (two updates) behind. I blame Sonic and the Black Knight :/ Next chapter tomorrow. Part 2 of this one :D
