A/N: I'm sorry it took me longer than expected to get this chapter done. A lot of stuff had been happening in life lately; mainly a lot of depressing and infuriating stuff. It was pretty hard to find a good time to continue writing with so much lousy stuff happening. Though there was at least one special event that was worth celebrating, so don't I can't say it was all bad.
Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't own the franchise, or else I would actually try to make something good with it.
Chapter 25 Island Escapade P3
Within the jungle of Prison Island, three figures stood around each other. One was Dr. Robotnik sitting in his walker, another was the black hedgehog named Shadow, and finally was their newest addition, Rouge the Bat. She had made her way into Robotnik's base that was shaped like a pyramid and used a transporter to take her to the space colony ARK some time ago. There she overheard the twos' plan. Apparently they needed the Chaos Emeralds to reactivate some sort of space cannon that was part of the ARK itself in order to intimidate the world into letting Robotnik rule them all. So far, they only had two Emeralds at the time.
That is until Rouge gave them a third one, which she just so happened to have come across on her way to the mad doctor's secret base. Many would asks why she would do that. The answer is simply to gain their trust like she was ordered to. If she had stopped their objective right then and there, then there's a good chance they would have retreated, gotten away, and laid low for awhile. Being giving an earful from the Commander for causing the targets to go into hiding was not on her to-do list. She needed to make sure that Robotnik was apprehended, and Shadow was eliminated. The bat had convinced them to return to this very island in hope of achieving those orders, so now she just had to hope the GUN soldiers could do their part. For the time being though, Robotnik didn't look too pleased.
"Are you sure your intelligence reports are correct?" said Robotnik, eyeing the bat with suspicion. "You claim to be a treasure hunter, but why would the Chaos Emeralds be here on this island? Having to come back here isn't my idea of a vacation you know!" he slammed his fists down on the outer edge of his cockpit.
"Well, believe what you want to believe," said Rouge as she thrust her hip against her left hand, and smiled slyly at the human.
"Hmmm! Very well then," said Robotnik after sighing in exasperation. "Let's discuss how we are going to do this. I will go in first and distract the military troops, allowing you," he nodded to Rouge. "To sneak in the base without being detected. Then Shadow will enter the armory, where he will set the timer on these dynamite packs," he tossed several small gray rectangular devices with four green zeros lit up and a icon of a red bomb with his own face on them in the bottom left corner to Shadow, who caught them while his eye remained on the doctor. "Once they are in place, we will blow up the whole island and get away before anyone has a chance to know what hit them!" The hedgehog smirked in satisfaction when he heard that part of the plan. "Meanwhile, you'll have to sneak into the cargo area and grab the Chaos Emeralds! That's a challenge for such a worthy treasure hunter as yourself, isn't it, Bat Girl?" With her left hand still on her hip, Rouge gave a sideways two-finger salute with her right, followed by a wink as she grinned "We only have thirty minutes to pull this mission off! And we only get one try, so don't fail me!"
The three then went off in different directions. By the time she thought she'd gained enough distance from the others, Rouge made a call on her earpiece as she continued to run.
"This is Rouge reporting in," she said while maneuvering around any trees that got in her way. "Dr. Robotnik and Shadow are on Prison Island in order to attempt to get the three Chaos Emeralds that GUN has obtained. Shadow will be planting explosives all around the island, while the doctor will cause a distraction for the troops. In the meantime, I'm supposed to gather the Emeralds for them in the next thirty minutes."
"I'll send word out to get as many troops off the island before that happens," said the Commander on the other line. "Most of the soldiers on the island don't know who you are, Rouge, so don't expect to be treated any differently than other trespassers."
"I wouldn't think of it," she said, a smirk growing on her face. "So, think you'll be able to capture them? After all, you do have the element of surprise thanks to yours truly."
"We can't make a move yet," he said in a formal tone. "Doing so could alert them to your cover, and Dr. Robotnik has a knack for getting away when things go south for him. In the possible outcome that they are not stopped here, you need to be able to keep selling your story to them and relay any new intel to us."
"That shouldn't be a problem, but I feel like I should be given a bonus for doing all of this," she said very playfully. "Say...some very valuable jewels that I can take home with me?"
The Commander let out a sigh. "You can't have any of the Chaos Emeralds," he said, causing her to pout. "We'll discuss your compensation later. Now get going."
After she had turned the communication device off, a smile formed on Rouge's face. She never expected to be given the Chaos Emeralds, but she knew the Commander wouldn't be cheap enough to not give her anything. Besides, she had already collected many fragments of the Master Emerald, and it was only a matter of time before she managed to get them all. Whatever she would be given as payment would pale in comparison.
Sometime later near Prison Island: Miles and Gamma were flying towards the island with Amy holding onto the red robot. Cream, her mother, and Cheese were still on the Sky Patrol, which wasn't too far off from the island at the moment since the other three passengers left the ship not long ago.
"This would be a lot easier if we could just call the people on the island and warn them about what's coming," said Amy with a frown.
"Unfortunately, something on the island is jamming our communication from getting through to them," said Miles as they got closer to the island. "Whether it's the people working on the island itself, or whoever is trying to steal the Emeralds is hard to say. All I know is that we can't get a signal through to them, and yet we can still contact each other."
"Well at least there's some good news," said Amy in a lamenting tone.
"We don't know if whoever came here to steal the Chaos Emeralds came alone or not, or even if it's that black hedgehog we heard about," said Miles, eyes narrowing in thought. "We may have to split up, just to be safe. I'll keep following the signal on my device," he made a gesture to his red ring bracelet on his right arm. "That should lead me to who we're looking for. Gamma can search near the port. I'm sure his sensors will be able to pick stuff up better there than anywhere else on the island. Amy, you see if you can find anyone working there and warn them."
"I don't know, Miles," said Amy, while shaking her head. "They might have me questioned for hours just to make sure I'm on the up and up. I don't think we can afford that kind of time. It might be best if I just go with Gamma. Security may mistake him for an enemy and start firing on him without question."
"Yeah, that would be a real shame," mumbled Miles sarcastically. He then let out a light sigh before addressing the two normally again. "Okay, just be careful. Contact me or the Sky Patrol if you need any help."
It wasn't long after they've arrived at the aircraft carriers that Amy and Gamma spotted Robotic beneath them, blowing up GUN robots that were in stasis. The E-100 series robot hovered down and landed before Amy hopped off, catching the human's attention. They glared at him, while he looked puzzled at first before returning their look.
"If it isn't Amy Rose, and the traitor," said Robotnik as he took a couple of steps forward with his walker. "Just what are the two of you doing here?"
"We're here to stop you from getting the Chaos Emeralds on the island, obviously" said Amy with her fists to her hips. "I bet you're working with that black hedgehog that was reported to have stolen that Chaos Emerald a few nights ago, too."
"Working with someone means equal partnership," said Robotnik with a wicked grin. "Shadow works for me, so don't start thinking I've become desperate enough to give equal control of things to anyone."
"Identity given," said Gamma. "Shadow: black hedgehog allied with Dr. Robotnik."
'Oh he's much more than that, Gamma,' thought Robotnik, while imagining the treacherous machine turning to scraps that were just big enough to make bullets out of. 'If you'd had stayed around, you would have seen just how powerful he really is. Then again, there's still a chance that you'll get to see it up close.'
"Why don't you just give up now and go home?" said Amy, arms crossed. "You know you're going to lose anyways. Chaos couldn't help you, and neither will this Shadow."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," said Robotnik moments before firing his mini-gun, which his two targets quickly dodged.
Gamma fired a few missiles while using his jet booster to pick up speed as he moved sideways, but the impacts barely made the walker stumble back. Amy tried to get in close with her hammer after having summoned it, but Robotnik shot his own missiles to keep her at bay. At one point she tried swinging at one of the projectiles, and was rewarded by the blast knocking her several feet back and causing her to become very irritated.
The two sides continued firing at each other with Gamma's attacks beginning to leave their marks, while the doctor's grazed them at most. His walker may have a strong defense and offense, but it was clearly lacking in speed. Even Amy started getting some good hits in with her hammer by throwing it at the machine before summoning the weapon back to her hands. This little two-on-one fight soon escalated, however, for the Hunter bots began to turn themselves on and start firing.
One might think that this was a good thing because now Robotnik would have to deal with both Amy, Gamma, and all those GUN robots by himself. The problem was, however, that he was not the GUN robots' only target. All three were trespassing, and all three were causing a whole lot of damage to the area. It should go without saying that this just made things more difficult for the hedgehog and her robot friend considering they couldn't just focus on the doctor anymore.
"Hey!" said Amy after her hammer got blasted out of her hands by a Hunter bot. She didn't see which one specifically, so she just glared at all of them with her fists tightening at her sides. "That does it! Gamma! We need reinforcement right now!"
"Calling the Sky Patrol for reinforcement right now," said Gamma, barely dodging one blast while getting hit on his left shoulder by another. "Request for the Sky Enforcers have been made. They will arrive in less than two minutes."
Just as the red machine said, backup had arrived and was firing from above. The flying machines that came from the flying ship were none other than Robotnik's old jet droids-now dubbed Sky Enforcers and under his enemies' commands. Thanks to them, more than half of the Hunter bots started taking aim towards the sky. None of them had the same thinking capability that Gamma did though, so there was a lot of wreckage on both sides.
"Gamma being on their side was bad enough, but now they are using my droids that were in the Egg Carrier?!" growled Robotnik to himself before his right eye began to twitch as a realization came to him. "No, that's not all. They took control of my Egg Carrier as well, didn't they?! That must be how they got here. Gamma alone doesn't have enough power to fly to this island from any other nearby land. I'm beginning to think I should set my creations to self-destruct so that they can no longer be used against me," then he suddenly got a call from Rouge saying that she was in position in the cargo area. "There's been an unexpected delay on my end. There's no more time to waste. I'll tell Shadow to set the timer for fifteen minutes! Let's go Rouge!"
Roughly five minutes later within the jungle of Prison Island: Miles was tracking down whoever the moving signal on his gadget belongs to. He was getting closer to the source, but he couldn't fly in such a thick jungle he's never been in before without bumping into something; not while looking at his half weapon half tracking device at least. Because of that, it was taking him a bit longer for him to find the person than he would have liked. Longer or not, he still came across the black hedgehog that he and the others saw on the news some nights ago.
"Hey you!" said Miles at the hedgehog, who was overhead while standing on a large branch covered in moss. "You're the one that's after the Chaos Emeralds, aren't you?"
"And just who are you supposed to be?" said Shadow as he looked at the young fox in half curiosity. "Do you work for GUN? Or perhaps you're an experiment of theirs. You're definitely not a normal fox. That is of course if all those animal biology books I've read are accurate."
"My name is Miles Prower, and I don't work for GUN, nor am I some sort of experiment," said Miles, sounding a bit aggravated during his last statement. "But you're right to think I'm not a normal fox. And it's not just because I have an extra tail on me."
"If you're not associated with GUN, then I have no time to waste on you," said Shadow as he prepared to take his leave.
"Hold it!" said Miles seconds before he turned his arm cannon on and fired a few inches in front of the older male's face, causing the guy to face him once more and let out a low growl. "I don't know what you're planning to do with all of those Emeralds, but I know it can't be good. There's no way I'm just going to stand by and let you take them."
"Hmph, you don't know who you're dealing with," said Shadow as he dug through his quills before retrieving the Chaos Emerald hidden within. The twin tailed boy watched the Emerald, curious at what one Emerald was supposed to do by itself. "Allow me to show you. Chaos Control!"
A flash of light appeared from the gem for a second, and when it died down, Miles no longer saw the enemy in his sight. Not only that, but he found himself laying on his stomach while feeling as though something hit him in the back of his head. He got up, rubbing his head a little, and then turned around to find himself face-to-face with the black hedgehog once again. The fox didn't know how it had happened so suddenly, but he was certain that it had something to do with the Chaos Emerald that was in the black hedgehog's possession.
"You're still standing," said Shadow, his face totally neutral. "I'm a little impressed. I thought you would go down easier than that."
"I give that impression a lot," said Miles, just before fetching his golden ring from underneath his fur with his free hand. "So what was that just now? Teleportation or time manipulation?"
"The latter if you must know," said Shadow as he took up a fighting stance. "Not that knowing about it will help you. This time I'll make sure you stay down."
Miles then threw his ring at him, but Shadow swatted it to the side and skated towards him. The hedgehog threw a punch to the fox's face, which caused the young lad to stumble back a bit before firing from his arm canon in retaliation. The blast was dodged by a few inches, but the ring had struck from the side against Shadow's cheek a second later. The weapon was then called back to its owner's hand. Just in time too, for the hedgehog had just jumped in the air and fired some sort of energy while shouting "Chaos Spear!" at Miles, so naturally the young genius deflected the attack with his golden ring.
Shadow then came down with a kick as he somersaulted forward, hitting the twin tailed lad on the head. As soon as Miles got his bearings again he whipped his tails at his foe, which was retaliated with a spin-kick to the stomach. The two were now several feet away from each other with their eyes narrowed. They could both tell that the other was no pushover, and that they couldn't just lunge ahead without a thought. The young fox could only assume that Chaos Control thing that was used before had a limit on how and when it can be used, otherwise this fight would have been over already.
This continued for almost ten minutes with both sides attacking and counterattacking each other. Miles was much quicker on the draw with his two weapons, but Shadow was no easy target. At one point the hedgehog was caught off guard by the yellow-orange fellow taking flight and then doubling kicking his face. Though only Shadow began to show signs of fatigue thanks to Miles' Rhythm Badge, the young fox was still in pain because of their brawl. Before the two could continue any further, Shadow received a call from Dr. Robotnik that was loud enough for both to hear.
"Shadow! What are you doing?" said Robotnik through the communication device, unaware of the current situation said hedgehog was in. "Hurry and get back here right now before the island blows up with you on it!"
The two anthropomorphic beings had a look of shock on them after hearing the news. While Miles began to make contact with his friend and ally to warn them of the situation, Shadow skated as fast as he could to the cargo area where Rouge still was with the three soon to be newly acquired Chaos Emeralds. He had gotten a message from her earlier about being captured before his run-in with the fox, but he had distracted himself with the fight until just moments ago. Luckily, he was already close by. As soon as he was close enough to the bat he used Chaos Control, and managed to get them both off the island seconds before all of the bombs went off. Many lives were lost from the blast, but not as many as there would have been if a certain spy hadn't called earlier.
Sometime later onboard the space colony ARK: Shadow was looking out through a window at the Earth as he began to reminisce his time with the human girl Maria. He remembered that he once told her that he thought he could find the purpose to his creation if he went to Earth. Well, he was sure he knew what that purpose was. He had figured it out years ago before the grandson of the late Gerald Robotnik awoke him.
"Why So Melancholy?" said Rouge as she suddenly walked up beside him, causing him to turn his head towards her for a brief moment. "That was very unexpected. I didn't think you were the kind that would come and rescue me. Your ability to use Chaos Control certainly comes in handy."
"You know I didn't come to save you. I came back for the Chaos Emeralds," said Shadow as he continued to avoid eye contact with her.
Robotnik came in the room not long after, and announced that everything was ready. Though they only had six of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow assured them that it was more than enough for a demonstration.
A/N: When coming up with a new name for the Egg Carrier awhile back, Shardwing52 had suggested the name Sky Enforcer. Obviously I didn't go with it, but it was still a good name to use for something, so I thought why not have it be the name of the jet droids that are under the good guys' commands now. So thanks Shardwing52 for coming up with the name.