"I'd like to begin by saying a few encouraging words." the princess started. She had removed the crown she wore as queen and gone back to wardrobe more of her own style. She had put away her sadness and wore a smile again. The city was safe and her friends present and accounted for. Not mention she was holding life within her belly. She looked at her team and read their faces quite easily: readiness, wonder, angst, excitement and lack-luster were on each members faces.
"I know the last few weeks have been--" Princess Sally Acorn started.
"Boring!" true blue interrupted. The fastest thing alive was tapping his foot impatiently with crossed arms and his nose up in the air. He looked annoyed and pissed off but deep down he was more excited than anyone.
"Boring…" Sally summed up while looking at her best friend and city moderator, Nicole, the brown and black lynx who was linked to every aspect of the city by holorealmatic machines also agreed. Nicole simply nodded with her stone face. She was still a computer after all.
"C'mon Sal, I need some action around here!" Sonic fidgeted each his fingertips. "It's been dead here for three weeks!"
"Sonic!" Amy knocked him over the head. The pink hedgehog gave a love tap to her impatient boyfriend. She wasn't a kid anymore either but a woman nonetheless and a feared warrior on the battlefield. Sonic calmed down.
"You can be so selfish sometimes!" Amy started to nit-pick. The couple was in that stage where everything turns into a fight.
"I'm selfish?!" Sonic started. "What about last night when you kept hogging the remote so we could watch Mina Mongoose's reality show!"
Rotor adjusted his hat. He was starting to lose interest. Fast. He was still in his fatigued shorts and hat with a belted pack over his chest and black combat boots. His size was still massive with muscle underneath his many coats of blubber. The purple walrus zoned out of the conversation as he looked to the one next to him. The guy next to him wasn't keeping it in so well.
The Hall of Acorns burst with insurmountable heat and a few flames.
"Sonic! Amy! Put a lid on it!" Knuckles yelled showing fists to each of them. The red echidna was breathing heavily as he stopped his fire and heat show. His hair would always be dreaded and he was still wearing a wrap around his waist from his tribal customs. His lego-styled boots that were red, yellow, green and a few hits of grey.
Sonic and Amy looked at Knuckles and then back to each other.
"I'm sorry!" Amy started.
"Yeah, you are." Sonic smiled. Amy punched Sonic in the arm before they planted a small kiss on each other.
Rotor rolled his eyes.
Knuckles rolled his eyes.
Sally rolled her eyes.
Tails rolled his eyes.
"Princess Sally? The mission?" Tails reminded. He hasn't spoken much since the day that New Mobotropolis was attacked by Shadow, but what else is new. Last heard by Sonic was Tails blindly confessing he would "come after" Sonic if he had such an opportunity (i.e. Chaos Emerald induced powers). The golden fox was going through some things that could probably be blamed on his new appendages.
Tails grew two extra tails in the last three weeks.
"Oh I'm sorry Tails." Sally smiled. "Thanks to two of our top mechanical and technical Freedom Fighters we have successfully made a set of Zone Starposts. These posts harness the powers of Mobius random wormhole routes and directs them to where we so choose." Sally explained. "This next mission's objective is The World Between Worlds."
"Say what?" asked Sonic.
"Stop acting like a child Sonic." Knuckles started. "This is real life!"
Amy brushed it up a bit. "You know Sonic? The World Between Worlds is like Mobius' own special place. It's where Never Lake is, and the place we all went to race for the emeralds that one time and Flicky Island is there too."
"Oh yeah now I remember," Sonic pointed at Knuckles. "You two were giving me access to special stages! How'd you do that?"
"Sonic! Focus!" Sally was rubbing her temples. "By using the Zone Starposts you will enter The World Between Worlds and find… somebody."
"Who is this person?" asked Amy.
"That's on a need-to-know basis Amy!" Sally stated. Her tone had a bit of spite behind it as Amy backed down. "Tails is the only one who knows and it's going to be this way until you get him."
"Ha!" Sonic pointed. "It's a guy! That narrows down our search."
"To like a billion." Rotor stated out of the blue. Sonic crossed his arms.
"There is no way we can monitor you once inside The World Between Worlds so please take your time, use caution, and investigate the entire situation before acting." Nicole laid some ground rules.
"Good Luck Freedom Fighters." Sally nodded. The others nodded in return. "If you're not back within a week's time, then we will send for immediate backup."
"Don't worry Sal, we're going to get your somebody back." Sonic nodded with that cocky smile of his. His confidence was like a breath of fresh air to the princess. She nearly toppled over but played it off by sitting down in the chair behind her.
The Freedom Fighters ran out from the Hall of Acorns.
"Do you think they can do it?" asked Sally.
"You are asking me." Nicole turned to Sally.
Sally shrugged.
"This isn't like you Princess, I never knew you to be so doubtful."
"I'm sorry Nicole, it's just I haven't seen him since I was little. And now that I've had the title and lost it and am carrying children he's going to be pretty hard on me."
"True he is stubborn but even still you two make each other whole."
Sally smiled.
"Sally Girl!" Bunnie Rabbot ran in. She came to a halt in front of the princess and the moderator and took in a few breaths; she apparently ran all the way here.
"Sally Girl you need to take a look at this!" Bunnie said with a few trembles in her voice. The three women exited the hall of Acorns and burst out into the streets of Knothole. The place had been beautifully repaired with gardens everywhere and renovations to new and old buildings. Uncle Chuck's chili dog stand was still standing proudly with a new owner – a pig of all people – along with other notable memorials. The hospital had a few repairs done to it along with a newly built food court on the other side of town. Nicole had managed to make the city's shield even stronger than before.
The name New Mobotropolis was no more after all. The people and citizens were thriving under the reinstated name of Knothole. Things were starting to be like the old days – except without towering trees around them. The three ladies in pursuit weren't really focused on Knotholes Hanging Gardens, or how the Hall of Acorns renovation looked at the time.
There was a situation and Bunnie was leading the way right to it. They stopped in their newly built high security prison. Every criminal they hoped to capture would be put away here for the rest of their days. Small time villains from Bean and Bark, to middle-class offenders like Nack the Weasel to high crime artists like Mammoth Mogul and the infamous Dr. Robotnik had special cells waiting for them. Bunnie and Sally came into the lower levels with Nicole blinking in a few milliseconds later. They met up with few already in-progress visitors.
"Antoine, Rouge, what's going on?" asked Sally.
The chief Royal Guardsmen poked his chest out as he stepped forward to the Princess Sally.
"There is something being wrong with one of our detainees." he stated.
"You remember the robot that came with Shadow don't you." Rouge jumped in.
"E series robot: E-123 codenamed: Omega, how could I forget?" Sally walked forward. She peered into the cell and saw Omega standing perfectly still with cobwebs all around his chasse.
"That last time we checked on this one was about a week ago." Rouge informed. "And he was shutdown at the time and I know Nicole--"
"All security records are currently being viewed and show that no tampering occurred with Omega's cell." Nicole interrupted.
"What's the problem?" Sally rubbed her head.
"That is what's being the problem my princess!" Antoine pointed in the direction of Omega as Sally zoomed in.
She stepped back and looked at Nicole.
"Omega's in standby mode?" Sally questioned.
"Probable cause is that someone triggered him from the outside." Nicole started.
"It's not G.U.N.," Rouge surmised. "Once we reported that Omega went rogue and joined Shadow they terminated all of Omega's funding. Commander Tower even told me that I was being reconsidered back into the agency for having a hand in stopping those two."
"There are two-hundred fifty six probabilities that could troubleshoot Omega's activation." Nicole started.
"Stop." said a voice from the corner. "No matter which one of those probabilities you choose it's going to be wrong."
The Freedom Fighters slowly turned to the darkened corner and felt their stomachs drop into their shins. The village destroyer had returned.
Shadow the Hedgehog was back.
"Shadow!" Bunnie cried. Antoine pulled out his sword and held it right up to Shadow's neck. Shadow was gone in an instant and then Antoine was on the ground. His sword impaled into the wall behind Shadow. Antoine was getting the life squeezed out of him all by Shadow's foot. He was the best one in the room to take on Shadow and now that he was pinned the ladies would have to come together.
"I only came to get what is mine." Shadow started.
Bunnie reeled back and threw her arm right for Shadow. The black hedgehog caught it and tugged at it. Bunnie tightened her real fist and reeled that one back. She was going to land a hit no matter what. Shadow caught her wrist and eased her arms down to her wayside.
"You let him go!" Bunnie practically spat in his face.
"One more outburst and I kill this stump of a guard!" Shadow grew angered. He really did come to talk. He shoved Bunnie back as Sally caught her. Shadow lifted his foot off of Antoine and actually helped the guard up.
"Omega is coming with me." Shadow stated.
"What do you want with him?" Sally asked.
"We both made a covenant to attain freedom. This isn't what he had in mind." Shadow smirked.
"I'm not releasing him. Knotholes orders." Sally stepped forward. Shadow closed his eyes and sighed a little bit.
"If you stand in my way princess…" Shadow started.
"If he's gonna be such a big baby about it let him have the toy!" Rouge jumped in. The others weren't so willing to agree.
"Omega is a criminal now!" Bunnie started. "We can't just have criminal's out and about now can we?"
"Then I'll go with them." Rouge leapt up to her feet.
Shadow furrowed his brow.
"Out of the question." Sally folded her arms.
"C'mon Shadow… we made a great team back in the old days." Rouge smiled. "I helped you find that last emerald before you destroyed knothole remember?"
Shadow closed his eyes.
"This is not going to be turning out so good is it?" Antoine stated to his wife.
"Listen here, Princess I'm just gonna tag along with Shadow here and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone with his little quest for the chaos emeralds. No harm done, right my queen?"
"It's princess!" Nicole said sternly.
"Fine, do what you want." Sally said. She had lost control over this whole thing. "It's obvious you want to go back to G.U.N."
"What can I say? Their resources are a lot better than yours." Rouge shrugged her shoulders. This is what a break-up felt and sounded like.
"I always knew there was some funny business about you!" Bunnie started to point fingers as she approached Rouge. Shadow appeared right between them.
"Release Omega, now!" Shadow commanded. Sally looked at Nicole and followed instructions. Omega's thick and clear cell door slid upward as Shadow approached him. He placed a hand on Omega when the robot came to life.
"Shadow!" Omega yelled. He opened up his hand and out came a missile launcher jammed right in Shadow's face.
"You abandoned me!" Omega accused.
"And now I'm getting you out." Shadow lowered Omega's launcher. Omega looked around and saw familiar enemies. These were some of the people that overwhelmed him in the last battle with the Wolf Pack Tribe and Geoffrey St. John.
"I'm not leaving, not before I shatter each of their bones!" Omega turned a machine gun toward Antoine.
"You said you wanted to attain freedom with me, Omega! Let's go!" Shadow barked. Omega didn't lower his weapon as he walked out of his own cell.
"You too Rogue!" Shadow stated.
"Ahem, it's Rouge!" she corrected. "If I'm going to be with you the least you could do is get a woman's name right."
"Can I kill her now!" Omega stated while pointing a gun in Rouge's face.
"Pulling it out on the first date?" Rouge asked. "What kind of robot are you?"
Shadow would have his hands full. "Chaos Control…"
And just like that the room was emptied by three people.
"Sally Girl, I know that wasn't--" Bunnie started.
"Bunnie, I don't want to hear it." Sally was hot. She had never really showed her emotions but it was clearly visible now. The Princess could have torn the place down with her own anger but she somehow found asylum.
"Were going to find her and were put her away." Bunnie commanded.
Princess Sally left the room.
This was not something they had hoped for. Shadow's return was already staggering enough but now the defection of Rouge. She would be blacklisted as an enemy now. They would have a cell for her in this small prison complex in Knothole.
The other Freedom Fighters exited the complex leaving Nicole alone among the room.
"And it starts." said Nicole. She materialized into checkers and quickly exited the room.
The sun starts to set on the world of Mobius as the Freedom Fighters reach their destination.
Somewhere among the dying heat of the desert.
"We're here." said Tails.
So this is the place huh?" asked Rotor. He set down his huge gun and stretched his arms back. The heat of the sun was finally wearing off and it was time to set up camp. They had made good time to this place, especially travelling at speeds in the 500's. Tonight they would rest up and tomorrow the mission would begin. Sonic set the pack he was carrying down along with the others.
"Hey Knuckles where are we?" asked Amy.
"This area is Deserted Ruin just outside of Downunda." Knuckles stated.
"I thought Never Lake was going to be here?" Sonic asked.
"Oh it will be." Rotor smiled. "Once this baby get's fired up."
Rotor patted down the Zone Starposts and kissed them a bit. They settled among the sandy area with many oasis' around them and mountains on their left and right. It was like a big alleyway with the sunset staring right at them.
"Oh Sonic isn't this romantic." Amy stated. "I can't believe we're almost there."
"I can't believe how bored I am." Sonic stated.
"Sonic." Amy started.
"You just don't know when to shut up do you blue!" Knuckles smiled. "If I did the same thing to Jules that you're doing to Amy, I'd be mince meat about now."
"That's because you've got the old ball and chain, Red." Sonic started. "Me and Amy have an understanding."
Rotor rolled his eyes.
"And what is that?" asked Amy.
"We've got a free flowing relationship, nothing's gonna tear this apart." Sonic smiled.
Tails stood up with his six tails flinching in the action.
"What is it Tails?" asked Amy.
"Ssh!" Tails looked left then Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy did. It was almost instantaneous.
"It's here." Tails stated.
"It's mine!" Sonic leapt up out of the chair and was gone in an instant. Tails whirled his six tails then blasted into the air. Knuckles spun his arms and quickly burrowed into the ground. Sand kicked everywhere over Amy and Rotor. The camp was blasted with wind and soft grains as Rotor looked at Amy.
"What is it?" asked Rotor. Amy brushed the dust out of her hair and set the chair back up.
"It's a Chaos Emerald!" Amy exclaimed.
Sonic was trucking across the desert dodging sinkholes and pressure activated traps from the ruins. Sonic was nearly impaled against a rising column but he sidestepped and was lifted up in the air by a huge monument. Sonic was sent careening through the air as Tails whisked by him.
The fox sailed just inches over the sand when a huge tidal wave of columns rushed from right to left. He never expected anything like this and had to pull up. He wasn't going to make it in time. He was going to fast. The columns were relentless in their constant shift from left to right. Tails was going to be knocked for sure when a huge sand eruption blasted up like a nuclear bomb.
The columns were all in disarray with Knuckles at the epicenter. He quickly crouched down and ran toward the sunset. He wasn't as fast as the others were on foot but was still pretty good. He ran through a tunnel when a column closed it off. He raised a huge fist and smashed through it like the first football player through one of those banners. More columns came – left, right, up, down, it didn't matter – and all were smashed to bits from Knuckles heavy punches. Knuckles was in the clearing as he came upon a huge gorge. He stopped at the precipice and looked it over.
"I've been here before." he stated.
"Oh yeah?" Sonic sped right next to him and overlooked into the gorge.
"This is Wild Canyon." Tails stated while dropping on the left of Knuckles.
"Well for you guys it's about to be Losers Canyon, that Emeralds mine!" Sonic jumped straight into the canyon. Tails gnashed his teeth and flew right after.
"You won't find that thing unless your Chaos Pulse is as good as mine!" Knuckles yelled. He stopped his yelling and held his head low. He focused on the faint chaotic waves the emerald emitted and then amplified them by means of his own chaotic energy. By this time he knew exactly where it was among the canyon. It took a special type of person to do Chaos Pulse which is what makes Knuckles and Rogue so abnormal.
"Gotcha!" yelled Knuckles. He twirled his arms around like wheels and smashed right into the rocky surface he was standing on and dug a hole straight through. Sonic fell right into the swirling updraft the canyon was creating. He hated being in the air for this long. He couldn't move like he used to moving. But that was a thing of the past something to be forgotten because now he had the wind in his control.
"Sonic Reverse!" he yelled. The updraft repelled against the blue hedgehog and blew the entire canyon up in sand and dust. Sonic landed on the ground and looked around.
"Oops!" he stated. The canyon was crumbling with rocks overhead tumbling down like rain. Sonic looked up through the incoming debris and saw Tails. Although it was a long distance between them Sonic could feel the cold stare of Tails' eyes. Sonic knew Tails wasn't going to help out. Knuckles burst from the side of a canyon wall and rolled right behind Sonic. Knuckles was dripping wet as he glared Sonic down.
"This is the last time I'm bailing you out!" Knuckles yelled. "Vulcan!"
Knuckles fists were surrounded with fire as he raised his hands high in the air.
"Hey wait what are you doing!" Sonic yelled.
"Hold you're breath!" yelled Knuckles. The red echidna collapsed the very floor they stood on. Knuckles grabbed Sonic's hand as the glided down evading rocks that were coming down from above. They looked down and spotted what was underneath.
"It's moving!" Knuckles barked. "I don't care who get's it as long as it's ours!" Knuckles spun around one time and hurled Sonic down at an angle. Sonic was loving the rush. He and Knuckles were a team too strong for their own good. Sonic speared right into the water and was moving right with the downstream current. He opened his mouth and let out a bubble filled command.
"Sonic Inverse!" he yelled. The wind stored up from his Sonic Reverse attack came back to him and sent him soaring through the water at alarming speeds. Inside the water was dark and all Sonic had to rely on was his natural awareness while moving fast. Sonic dodged to the left as a huge boulder crashed down from above. He arrowed out his body and headed for the surface. He practically leapt out of the water and surface ran across the top. He was dodging stalagmites, stalactites, and columns with Knuckles not too far behind gliding through the water.
Sonic split through a few weak rock structures when he saw the path coming to an end. A huge wall was about a few miles on front of them and coming up fast. He dove back into the water and was sent careening from the sudden loss of speed as Knuckles quickly caught him. They were sent toward that huge wall and then down and back out to a circular tube. They were immediately sucked down toward a small drain when they caught on. Sonic was clinging on the edge holding onto the last amounts of breath that he could. He looked over at Knuckles and saw it in his hands. It was the Red Chaos Emerald in Knuckles left and holding on for dear life with his right. Knuckles was already looking back at Sonic when he nodded as if to say goodbye. He let go of his right hand and was sucked down into the tiny drain. Sonic released the last of his breathe while crying for one of his closest friends.
The water stopped.
It was almost serene just before Sonic started to float upward. He couldn't hold on anymore neither with hands or by his breath but he was floating upward and that was a good thing. The water was starting to get warmer and Sonic finally started to see what was before him. The surface. He blasted up out of the water and took in a huge breath as he did. He back flipped and landed on the edge of the sculpted well with a canopy over top. Then in an instant the water boiled down and then started to emit huge amounts of steam. The water was going up in bails of steam and the well water was decreasing. Sonic couldn't see a thing among the haze. After about a minute or so there was enough visibility to see down into the huge well.
"Knuckles! You did it!" Sonic yelled. The red-dreaded echidna was sitting on his butt at the bottom of the well with the emerald in his lap and gasping for air. The place where they entered the well was sealed with rocks and the drain was also plugged with boulders. Whatever Knuckles did he did it well. Sonic dropped along the side of the well and patted his feet against the wall. He spiraled down and back up to the rim of the well with Knuckles gripping his hand.
"Let's get outta here." Knuckles calmly stated.
"No one's leaving!" Tails barked. He was just behind the two as if he's been there.
Knuckles started it off. "Hey where were--"
"Watch out!" yelled tails. He picked them up in a blink of an eye and flew to the other side of the lagoon all to evade a Chaos Spear. The limey spear disintegrated against the concrete base of the well. There was still steam on the outset of the lagoon walls but just enough to give it a foggy feeling. There was an ominous presence to be feared here.
"Shadow!" Tails yelled.
The black hedgehog was smiling among the mist with Omega on his right and a nostalgic Rouge on his left.
"Shadow?" Sonic questioned. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to pay a few things back!" Shadow bluntly stated. "I owe it all to you Tails."
The golden fox cringed but quickly gnashed his teeth.
"Stay back! I'm killing him!" Tails yelled. Electricity was whipping through the area making the steam look like cumulonimbus's. Huge spikes of electricity erupted into the area. Sonic and Knuckles backed away from Tails since he was emitting powerful surges from his golden fur. Shadow motioned toward Omega to take on Sonic and Knuckles while Rouge looked across the field and then flapped her huge bat wings. The surrounding steam enshrouded her as she took flight rather than fight.
Tails sparked across the lagoon and threw a staggering punch right for Shadow. The black hedgehog held Tails' wrist and was taking the electricity like a pro. Shadow wrapped Tails up and was about to break Tails arm when he pulled closer to Tails' ear.
"It seems I have you to thank for my freedom." Shadow stated. Tails didn't like that. He clinched his fist when a column of electricity blasted over both of them. Tails disappeared within his own element and took cover in the few patches of steam.
"Chaos Control." yelled Shadow.
Omega soared over to where Sonic and Knuckles were swiped for Knuckles with a huge metallic fist. Knuckles raised his right arm to block and then punched Omega square in the chest. The robot was sent back a few yards but he didn't care. He didn't register pain. Omega landed and opened up the huge compartments on his shoulders to reveal the huge missile ports all around. One after another missiles launched toward Knuckles like a machine gun's bullets would. They were en route to collide with Knuckles when the blue blur appeared between certain death and a friend. Sonic held his hands to his head and made sort of a funny face and then took off. The missiles had a new target now. They soared after the hedgehog moving at a hundred miles an hour – he was making sure the missiles were right on him. Knuckles emblazoned his fist and then cut right into the ground. He was just as fast a digger as Tails was a flyer or Sonic was at running.
"This one is annoying!" Omega called out. The ground rumbled and a huge arc of fire rose from the upturned ground. The robot folded his arms and produced an energy shield strong enough to withstand the superheated flames.
That arc of fire missed.
Omega turned around to watch the fire go by when Knuckles appeared and literally smashed through the shield and dented Omega's chasse. Omega wouldn't be using that energy shield anymore.
Tails was holding his hand in that infamous position – pointed with his finger like the barrel of a gun – and holding it downward. Tails felt Shadow's position all around but couldn't pinpoint it. Tails heard the leaves rustle around him and he turned and held up his hand and saw remnants of Shadow leaving another Chaos Control.
"You tried to kill me…" Shadow stated throughout the steam of the field.
Tails didn't reply.
"But really you saved me!" Shadow yelled. He appeared directly in front of Tails just as the fox raised his hand.
"Lightning's Tail!" yelled the fox. Shadow wrapped up Tails wrist right under his armpit and then head butted the fox. Tails wasn't backing down. The fox gripped the underside of Shadow's arm and pointed his other hand right between the eyes of the black hedgehog. In the meantime Tails had managed to transfer the energy from his left hand into his right which was now fully charged and inches away from Shadow's brain.
Shadow smiled. "Do it!"
Tails figuratively pulled the trigger. It was like being in a thundercloud at that point. The sound deafened and the light was blinding. Tails was even thrown back as a result of his own display of power. The electricity was still surging in front of the fox and so was this dark figure.
Shadow would live another day.
He was like a demon as a silhouette showed him walking closer to Tails. His long spines were waving in the soft winds and his eyes were piercing straight into Tails' mind. Miles Prower got up and started up with more electricity but he didn't feel it. He was out of juice.
A strong wind sliced right between the fox and hedgehog when a rain of infinite missiles rained over Shadow. It was so out of the blue but that's the kind of thing Sonic the Hedgehog was known for. He stood in front of Tails and watched explosion after explosion.
"He's still in there." Sonic stated.
Tails ran right past Sonic right after the last explosion but stopped dead in his tracks. There, on his knees with eyes plastered on the sky above, was Shadow and just behind him was the second black hedgehog. The one in the back was all smiles as he simply looked down at the defeated Shadow at his feet. The standing hog laid a hand on the downed one when it simply faded out of existence.
"Shadow's of a Ghost." Shadow explained. "And now that you're tuckered out, I can kill you with ease."
Tails built up some electricity but it discharged and ended up shocking himself. The fox fell to his knees with Sonic just in front of him.
"Alright, you false imitation, lets get this beat down started!" Sonic stated with a full capacity of wind and energy left. At any moment the blue hedgehog could take off. Deep down the black hedgehog knew he was just fast enough to outrace Tails or Knuckles but he was no where near Sonic's vanishing act.
"Crystal Enclosure!" yelled Rouge. Sonic was surrounded by a purple hexagon and would be subdued from going any place else. Rouge floated down just beside Shadow and waved at Sonic. This wasn't going to be good. The Freedom Fighters had a traitor in their midst.
"Rouge, no!" yelled Sonic. But his voice was very faint in that crystal jail.
Shadow smiled. "Which one of you has the Chaos Emerald?"
"Sonic and Tails gritted their teeth. Not this again.
Tails gnashed. "I'd die before I let you--"
Shadow picked up Tails by the throat and started to squeeze. Shadow started to glow with orchid and periwinkle auras as he held up Tails.
"It's almost too easy." said Shadow.
Tails was dropped to the ground as Knuckles clamped down Shadow's own neck. Knuckles reeled back his massive fire induced fists and hammered away at Shadow's face and head. Shadow was in and out of consciousness with each hit. Knuckles was let go of Shadow and then slammed him in the stomach. The black hedgehog tumbled across the ground and then slid right before Rouge's legs.
"Take your sh_t!" Knuckles picked up Omega's remains and tossed right in front of Shadow and Rouge. The Red echidna simply knocked on Rouge's Crystal Enclosure and freed Sonic from entrapment.
"You want the Emerald, come and get it!" Knuckles yelled. He clutched his fists and displayed his raw power before Shadow and Rouge. The black hedgehog was pissed off. He had never taken such blunt abuse. He took a step forward when he kicked against one of Omega's scattered parts. The robot who sought freedom was now free from the chains of life.
"Knuckles has the Emerald child, what should we do?" Rouge informed.
Shadow gritted his teeth. "Chaos Control!"
The three disappeared among the chaos energy never to be seen again today.
The three heroes were left alone among the beginning stages of a night sky. Knuckles held Tails over his shoulder as they started their long trek back to Amy and Rotor. Dry Lagoon was partially tattered from the fight but most of the statues and fixtures were in tact. This place, like the Freedom Fighters, would live to see another day. And the next day would be the mission at hand.
There was still a World Between Worlds to be explored.
Hope everyone enjoyed the New Year and the wait for Sonic 51. Let me know what you thought about the first issue of this new arc. This arc is definitely going to be more planned out than the last two since I found a few plot-holes and stuff… haha… but yeah Sonic 51 in 2010. Also there are a few more pics put up on if you haven't already looked. My account is under the profile /Givannivan so check those out when you get a chance…