Hi there! Sorry this took so long. I was gone for, like, a week, and then it took me a while to get this chapter the way I wanted it. So, my bad. Hope you like it! Please R & R!
Chapter 11
A few minutes ago...
Shadow finished off the rest of the robots in his path. He looked at the map again, and saw that he was close to Sonic. The tricky part was finding a way in. The schematic didn't show doors. Oh, well.
The midnight hedgehog stopped in front of another door. This one looks different from the others, he thought. And it was. The lock was bigger and stronger than the others, although at the moment is was unlocked. I wonder...
He was interrupted by a voice in his head. Shadow! Open the door! I need you! Shadow almost gasped out loud. The voice sounded like Sonic!
He looked around, and then at the door again. He turned the nob...
Current time
...and stepped inside. In front of him was his vision. Sonic was trapped in a tube surrounded by controls, and Eggman was standing in front of the belt with his back to Shadow. The only difference was that his friend was in trouble.
The tube was filled with water, and the blue hedgehog was being crushed by a stone pillar. Shadow had to get him out of there, or he would drown.
"Move it, Eggman!" he shouted as he pushed the villain away with so much force, he slammed into a wall. Eggman stared in shock, and then laughed.
"Go ahead and try, Shadow!" he said gleefully. "But you'll only make it worse. And more entertaining for me, of course!"
Shadow turned away. He couldn't waste any time with Eggman. "What do I press?" he yelled to Sonic. The blue hedgehog tried to answer, but couldn't without choking on water. He just shook his head. The stone column was still pressing down on him, and his legs were shaking slightly from the weight. Shadow had to get him out of there, and fast. Sonic could hold his breathe for a while, but no more than a few minutes. And the column didn't help.
The black hedgehog decided to try and break the glass. He threw a chaos blast, but, like the door, it fizzled out. He spindashed the tube, but bounced right back.
"Now what?!" Shadow yelled. He was beginning to panic. He ran over to Eggman, grabbed his collar, and hauled him up.
"Which button lifts the column?" he growled menacingly. He dragged him over to the control belt. "Which one?!"
Eggman smirked. "How do you know I won't lie?"
"I don't. But if you do lie, I promise you won't live to see another day," Shadow threatened.
Sonic glanced over in surprise. He hadn't realized how much Shadow cared about him. He quickly focused again on not being crushed. He was getting slightly lightheaded from lack of air. Shadow! Hurry!
Shadow jumped a little in surprise, and then remembered what had happened before. He looked at Sonic, and saw that he was running out of air. I'm trying! What should I do?
Sonic tried to think clearly, but it was difficult. All of a sudden, the pressure increased, forcing him to one knee. Aah! Shadow, what'd you do?!
Nothing! It was... He looked over at Eggman, who had his hand on a lever and was laughing in triumph. "Eggman! Stop!"
"Hah! Or what?" he cackled. "I could crush Sonic with just a flick of my wrist."
Shadow sweat-dropped. "Then why don't you?"
"Because you have something I need. I hope you have the white chaos emerald?"
Sonic froze. Don't do it, Shadow. You can't!
I have to. What else can I do?
Th-the lever! Eggman's pressing it one way, so press it the other!
Shadow glanced at Eggman. He was watching him closely to make sure he didn't do just that. I'm gonna need some kind of distraction. But what?
Not one moment later, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy burst into the room. They quickly took in the scene and ran over. Knuckles went right for Eggman and restrained him. The villain was so surprised he didn't get the chance to press the lever anymore. "Argh! Darn you, echidna!"
"I take that as a complement," he replied. "Hey!" That last part was because Shadow shoved them both out of the way and pushed the lever the other way. The pressure lessened significantly, and column was lifted out of the tube. Sonic quickly swam to the surface and gasped for air. He smiled. "Thanks, faker."
"No problem. But how do we drain the water? And how do we get you out of there?" Shadow asked.
"I think I can help with that," Tails said. "These controls look complicated, but are actually pretty simple. Let me see." He pressed a button, and the water quickly drained out of the tube. Sonic's feet touched the floor again. Tails smiled in triumph, but then frowned as Sonic collapsed. Amy, who had been staring at Sonic the entire time, gasped. "Sonic! What's wrong? Are you okay?"
He stood up shakily. "Yeah. I'm just really tired." He glared at Eggman. "Alright, Eggy. Better let me out, or Amy's gonna pulverize you with her hammer. Right, Amy?"
Amy smiled as she pulled out her Piko Piko hammer. "Oh, yeah. You hurt my Sonic, and I hurt you back." She approached the villain.
"Wait!" Eggman shouted. "No need for that."
He walked over to the controls when suddenly, he lunged at Shadow. He reached into his dark quills and grabbed the white chaos emerald. "Oops. Guess I lied. Hahahahahaha!" he laughed as a platform disappeared beneath him and he dropped to the lower floor. The platform slid back into place. He was gone so fast only Sonic saw it all.
"No!" the cobalt hedgehog yelled. "No no no no no!" He pounded the glass in frustration. His friends were confused at his outburst.
"Sonic," Tails said. "We can just get it back like we always do. We just get you out of there and-."
He was interrupted by the blue blur. "That's just it! Eggman told me that the Master Emerald and the chaos emeralds provid the power that strengthens the glass and keeps me trapped. With all the emeralds together, he'll be the only one capable of letting me go. And he'd never do that willingly."
He leaned against the glass in exhaustion. Everyone was quiet for a second. Then Shadow spoke up. "Then we'll make him let you go."
"He won't do it." Then Sonic remembered the other part of Eggman's plan. He tried to shake off his drowsiness. "That's not all. Eggman rebuilt the chaos syphon, and he plans to drain the emeralds' power with it. None of us would... be able... to go... super... anymore..." Sonic's eyes closed, and he fell to the ground, asleep.
Amy freaked out. "Sonic? Sonic! What's wrong?! Please wake up!"
Tails calmed her down. "He's fine. He's just been through a lot in only a small amount of time. Eggman knows how to drain someone all to well."
Knuckles nodded. "But now we need to get him out. Any ideas?"
"Well," Shadow started. "If Eggman just got a hold of the last chaos emerald, do you think he could've installed it already? Maybe without it, the glass is breakable. Everyone, surround the tube. We all have to hit it at the same time."
They got into position. "Okay, on my mark, we all jump and hit the glass as hard as we can," Shadow ordered. "Ready? One, two, three!"
They leaped at the glass. Shadow performed a spindash, Knuckles pounded the glass with his knuckles, Amy hit it with her hammer, and Tails just used his fists. They landed back on the ground and inspected the tube. The glass hadn't shattered as they had hoped. However, a small crack did start.
"Again!" Shadow commanded. "One, two, three!" They repeated the maneuver, and the crack expanded until it stopped about half of the way around the tube.
"Come on, guys! One more time!" Shadow ordered. "One, two, THREE!"
Again they leaped at the glass, and this time they were rewarded. The crack expanded until both ends met. Tails flew up and pushed on the top half, and it fell and shattered on the ground. Sonic stayed unconscious. The fox flew into the tube and landed next to him. He tried to shake him awake.
"C'mon, Sonic. Wake up. Please wake up," he whispered. The hedgehog didn't respond, so Tails picked him up, carried him out of the tube, and carefully laid him on the floor. The others surrounded the two brothers. Still, Sonic did not move.
Suddenly, an alarm sounded. "Darn it!" Shadow said. "I guess Eggman doesn't want his prisoner to escape. His loss. Let's get out of here."
He started towards the door, but paused, turned around, and walked back to Sonic. He bent down and picked up the unconscious hedgehog. Without a word, he walked to the door. Again he paused, but only to call, "Are you coming?"
The other three shook themselves out of their shock and followed Shadow into the hallway.
They hurried through the white building when the front door came into view. Instead of crawling through the tunnel, Knuckles punched the doors open. Much easier than crawling through the tunnel. The group figured they would have a clear path to the Tornado. Boy were they wrong.
"Hello, there," Eggman said. He gestured to the army of robots behind him. "You didn't actually think I would let you rescue Sonic, did you?" He laughed, and then shouted, "ATTACK!"