Chapter 11: Heck Breaks Loose

Shadow and Omega entered Dr. Eggman's central laboratory to find quite a crowd. There were Dr. Eggman, Cubot, Orbot, Metal Sonic, Metal Shadow, Rouge, Vector, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic. All eyes were on Shadow and Omega. Shadow chuckled, "I'm sorry. Are we interrupting something?"

Metal Shadow eyed Shadow most intently, but he did not strike. Shadow looked at Eggman, who was about to insert a key into a slot on a massive machine. Shadow used his laser gun to shoot the key out of Eggman's hand. "Ouch!" the mad doctor exclaimed.

Everyone dove for the key, but Sonic was the one to catch it. Sonic looked at Shadow, "Boy, am I glad to see you! It's about time you joined the party! You really saved my neck!"

Shadow looked at Sonic. "Don't think for a second that I'm here to save you, you blue faker. I'm here for the Chaos Emeralds."

Knuckles was using the distraction caused by Shadow and Omega's entrance to sneak up behind Dr. Eggman. When the red echidna was behind the evil doctor, he knocked Eggman out with a swift punch in the cheek. Cubot and Orbot lunged to their master's aid, but Knuckles gave them an intimidating look that made them both retract. Metal Shadow and Metal Sonic did not seem concerned for their creator in the slightest. Metal Shadow was focused on his organic counterpart, and Metal Sonic was focused on the ignition key in Sonic's hand.

Rouge spoke, "Speaking of the Chaos Emeralds," she pointed a gun at Sonic's head, "hand them over."

Everyone was startled except Shadow and the robots. Sonic looked at Rouge. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Rouge said seriously, "I'm afraid not. When G.U.N. sent me to come with you to foil Eggman, they gave me another secret mission. Do you remember what you said to Saturn when you first confronted him?"

Sonic looked angrily at Rouge. "I suppose I don't."

Rouge said, "You told Saturn that after you defeated him, you would return all of the Chaos Emeralds to their rightful owners. My mission is to recover the silver and violet Emeralds that were stolen from government facilities, so hand them over."

Sonic had little choice. He motioned his head for Tails to bring Rouge his suitcase. Tails did so, and he removed the silver and violet Chaos Emeralds from the case. He handed the Emeralds to Rouge, but before Rouge could take them, Shadow pointed his laser gun at her head. Rouge pulled out another gun and pointed it at Shadow's head. Rouge asked Shadow, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Shadow said, "Didn't you hear me? I'm here for the Chaos Emeralds, all seven of them, including the two you were assigned to steal, so I can't just let you go waltzing off with them."

Orbot asked Cubot, "What exactly is happening here?"

Cubot answered, "I reckon this here is what ya might call a showdown."

Cream looked helplessly at Vector. "What do we do, Mr. Vector?"

Vector said, "I don't think there's anything we can do."

Knuckles shouted, "We don't have time for this! You guys can shoot each other over the Emeralds later! This ship is going to crash any minute!"

Tails was torn apart. The poor kid could not decide to whom he should give the Emeralds. He wanted to give them to Sonic, but Shadow could easily take them from him if he wanted to, but Rouge might actually shoot Sonic if Tails did not give the Emeralds to her.

Shadow screamed, "Give me the damn Emeralds, you brat!"

Rouge said, "Give them to me, or I'll shoot your friend!"

Tails looked back and forth. The young fox lowered his head as he began to hand the silver and violet Chaos Emeralds to Rouge, but Tails was pounced and pinned to the ground by Metal Shadow before he could hand them over. Tails dropped the suitcase and the two Chaos Emeralds. The black robot readied the laser gun in his arm and pressed it to the back of Tails's head. Metal Shadow looked at Sonic. "I'll take that ignition key if you please."

Tails said, "Don't do it, Sonic!"

Metal Shadow pressed the young fox harder against the ground and said sternly, "Give me the key, or the kid dies."

Sonic looked at Rouge, who still had a gun pointed at his head. Rouge nodded. "If you as much as touch one of those Chaos Emeralds, I'll blow your brains out." Sonic nodded in agreement, and Rouge lowered her gun. Sonic gave Metal Shadow the key, which Metal Shadow threw directly to Metal Sonic.

Metal Shadow continued, "And the Emeralds as well if you don't mind."

Rouge pointed her gun at Sonic's head again and said, "Don't you dare!"

Sonic hung his head. "I'm sorry, Rouge, but I don't have a choice." Sonic picked up the suitcase containing the other five Chaos Emeralds. Rouge kept her gun pointed at Sonic's head, but she could not bring herself to shoot her old pal. She was hoping that Sonic would be too cowardly to call her bluff, but she knew that he was too heroic for that. Sonic held the suitcase firmly and looked down at Metal Shadow. "You want the Emeralds, huh?" Sonic asked with his head still lowered. Sonic raised his head with fire in his eyes. "Then take them!"

In a swift motion, Sonic bashed the suitcase across Metal Shadow's head. Metal Shadow was knocked off of Tails, and the suitcase was flung open, scattering the five Emeralds it contained along with some of Tails's various gadgets. Suddenly, the still room burst to life. Sonic helped Tails up. Shadow and Metal Shadow dove for the five scattered Emeralds. Rouge grabbed the silver and violet Emeralds that Tails had dropped.

Metal Sonic used his speed to appear behind Knuckles and kick him aside. The blue robot inserted the ignition key into its slot, and the machine activated. Vector dove toward the machine, but Metal Sonic appeared in front of the crocodile. Metal Sonic shouted, "You will not interfere!" and he knocked Vector aside with a punch that was too quick for Vector to dodge.

Eggman's machine was working. The massive construction rattled and clanked loudly as negative chaos energy flowed through its various, transparent pipes. Knuckles and Vector got up and were ready to fight, but Metal Sonic stood protectively in front of the great mechanism. Tails said, "Knuckles! Vector! Don't destroy the machine!"

Knuckles and Vector gave Tails confused looks. Knuckles asked, "Why not?"

Tails said, "If all of that chaos energy that's flowing through those pipes gets released, there's no telling what could happen!"

Vector asked, "Then what do we do?"

Tails whispered to Sonic, "I have a plan, but I need you to distract Metal Sonic."

Sonic smiled. "Leave it to me."

Sonic curled himself into a ball and rolled toward Metal Sonic at the speed of sound. Metal Sonic dodged, and Sonic uncurled himself. Sonic jumped at Metal Sonic and punched at him consecutively midair, but Metal Sonic blocked all of the hits.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Metal Shadow were scrambling over the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow managed to grab the red one and the green one, but Metal Shadow got a hold of the yellow, blue, and cyan Emeralds. Once the three Emeralds were in his possession, Metal Shadow announced, "Chaos Control!" With that, the black robot disappeared in a flash of green light.

Tails had opened a small part of Eggman's time machine, and he was tinkering with it using a screwdriver that fell from his suitcase. Cubot and Orbot approached Tails. "Just what do ya think yer doin', ya little varmint?" Cubot asked while pounding his right fist against his left palm.

Cream and Cheese ran in front of Tails defensively. Cream said, "If you want to get to him, you'll have to go through us!"

Cheese added, "Cho!" Orbot and Cubot took one look at the destructive Chao and ran away screaming.

Tails chuckled, "Thanks, you two."

Cream smiled. "It's no problem. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Tails said, "It's too dangerous to destroy this machine, but maybe if I reverse its polarity, I can send the negative chaos energy harmlessly back into the Master Emerald."

Cream said, "That's brilliant! How long will it take?"

Tails said, "It should be done right about… now!" The chaos energy in the machine began to move in reverse. Tails cheered, "I did it!"

Vector said, "Um, guys, I don't think we're out of the woods just yet."

A robotic voice sounded over the intercom, "Crash landing in ten seconds: nine—eight—" The voice continued to count down. Metal Sonic stopped fighting with his organic counterpart. He grabbed the still unconscious Eggman and carried him to safety.

Shadow said, "Everyone get close to me!" The crowd did as instructed. Shadow pointed his hand toward Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Vector, Cream, and Cheese and shouted, "Chaos Control!" The group was teleported in a flash of green light. Then Shadow repeated, "Chaos Control!" and he was teleported away along with Omega and Rouge.

The Egg Narwhal crashed.