S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO!

Episode 26: Iapetus


Space rippled and bent almost to the breaking point as the space colony ARK emerged out of its jump and settled into orbit around the planet Hydra. Acting nearly on instinct the planet's orbital defences opened fire and almost in the same instant the ARK retaliated. An intense barrage of fire struck the incoming fighter drones, sending their fleet crashing down to fall into the atmosphere.

"Jump complete." One of the fesonians manning the Ark reported. "All defensive drones eliminated, now settling into unchallenged orbit."

"Excellent." Black Doom's projection declared. "This world will be the first to bear witness to the reality of the second winter." There was a loud shunting noise and the door to the control centre swung open and Shadow moved in; the red Chaos Emerald, the gem containing the soul of Maria, in his hand.

"You're certainly a light sleeper." Black Doom remarked. "There's no need to concern yourself. Rest some more."

"I've rested long enough." Shadow stated coldly. "I want to start now."

Black Doom chuckled lightly.

"My, my aren't you the impatient one?" He unfolded his arms and moved towards the Dark hedgehog. "Very well, let us begin phase two."

Shadow was led to a section of the colony he knew all too well. It was the laboratory in which he had spent the first days of his existence, the incubation chamber where he had been created.

Years of neglect had seen it fall into disrepair and the Fesonians had not bothered to fix it up. It lay covered in a thick layer of dust and dirty, the large incubation tank in the centre of the chamber broken in half with the splintered glass lying across the floor.

"I find that repeatedly I am forced to contemplate Gerald's genius." Black Doom remarked as his projection floated across the chamber while Shadow remained at the doorway with a sombre expression on his face. "The ultimate life form ambition was an attempt to bring about the new golden age through the resurrection of the gods, the restoration of the ancient Titan Civilisation that spanned the galaxy before all other life-forms.

The civilisation which referred to me as its king."

A side door led off from the main chamber, the barrier reinforced barrage proof steel. It had been sealed for a very long time as the dust and dirt around it showed. Black Doom moved towards it and once his projection was hovering directly before the barrier, he leaned forward and uttered a single word.

"Baldur." Hearing the password through hidden audio receivers the door grunted in acceptance and began to pull itself aside. Shadow had to hold a hand over his mouth at the sudden terrible smell that flew out when the airtight seal was broken. Black Doom floated in and after a moment Shadow followed, trying not to breathe in through his nose.

The floor of the chamber beyond was wrapped in a thick collection of black vine like creeper plants, twisting and turning as they coated every surface before intertwining directly in the centre. The metal walls were hardly visible through the entanglement. Shadow had to hold a hand up through the gloom to see but when he did, he saw in a combination of horror and awe at the thing that stood directly in the centre of the room.

It was a tree. Or at least it had the shape of a tree. Its bark was jet black and intermixed in its large branches was the bulb of a flower, twice as big as himself with blood red petals curved around to form a ball.

Jagged red thorns stood out across the branches and trunk, each one curved like a talon and jagged with a serrated inner edge.

Dark leaves had sprouted beneath the massive trunk, all overlapping each other to forma short canopy that cast a dark shadow across the massive roots that spanned out beneath it

The horrid smell was coming directly from the demonic plant, a stench so powerful that Shadow couldn't care to get too close.

"What is that?" He asked, his breath coming out white. The temperature in his chamber was dramatically lower. Even the ultimate life form could not help but shiver.

"Gerald took it as a token of friendship." Black Doom replied. "It is what we will use here." Slowly he floated over and waited at the base of the grotesque plant life. Shadow hesitated briefly before moving forward himself, unable to get too close without holding his nose.

Black Doom gestured with his hand towards it and slowly the leaves moved apart to show a large mouth with wet pulsating lips; jagged teeth lining the inside. Transparent ventricles lead away from it, feeding up into the tree and towards the tower at the top.

Shadow withdrew sharply, now apprehensive. The dark hedgehog had seen creatures from Nexus itself and this was revolting to him.

"You stand on the threshold of salvation and now you waver?" Black Doom asked incredulously. "Gerald and I created this plant together. It is much a part of Project Shadow as you are. You needn't fear it."

Shadow had to press his lips together to stop himself from gagging. Swallowing his disgust he cautiously approached.

"You begin the rebirth sequence, take the Emerald and hold it in the hand of the arm baring my mark." Black Doom instructed.

The black and red hedgehog glanced down at the scar like emblem etched across his skin.

Something, some voice of reason in the back of his head, told him; warned him; shouted at him that something was very wrong.

"Now… place your arm in the mouth and the sequence can begin."

Before either of them could react, there was a sudden flash of light from behind Shadow; erupting out of nowhere. The dark hedgehog whirled around to meet the intrusion while Black Doom simply phased out, his projected form disappearing but his presence still there.

"Shadow stop!" A familiar voice declared and out of the light came the last person he expected to see. The female Echidna Tikal raced up to him, her escort the water demon Chaos liquefying into a puddle behind her before disappearing completely.

"Please, Shadow I'm begging you not to do this!" She cried hanging onto his arm.

"How did you get…" The dark hedgehog began in alarm.

"You're making a huge mistake!" She told him refusing to let go. "If you do this you'll damn Maria!"

"Damn Maria?" He repeated. "I'm saving her. I'm giving her back the life that was taken from her."

"Is that thing saving her?" Tikal asked, pointing to the disgusting plant. "Shadow don't you have any sense to know when you're being tricked?"

"This is my last chance." Shadow persisted. "Maria didn't deserve that. She was barley into her teens when they killed her. I'm writing a wrong."

"And are you certain this is what Maria wants?" Tikal asked. "To have her soul bound to that thing?"

At this Shadow lost his temper.

"And who the hell are you to tell ME what Maria wants?" He demanded. "Who gives you the right to…"

"She told me!" Tikal ended up blurting out without thinking. Shadow simply stood there with a stunned expression on his face. Realizing she had said too much Tikal quickly put a hand to her mouth.

"You mean you've been talking to her, in the afterlife?" He demanded sudden confusion coming in his eyes. "How long has this been going on?" Tikal hesitated before looking away; her face fraught with guilt.

"Ever since we first met aboard the Ark." She muttered. Shadow grit his teeth together trying not to start swearing.

"And so you see the lies that would be told you corrupt and control you." Black Doom's voice echoed into his head, now more influential than ever.

"You mean you could talk to Maria for all that time and you didn't tell me?" Acting on impulse he grabbed her but the front of her dress and held her tight. "You've been sitting on that for four years! I could have talked to her, made my peace or something." Barley restrained white fury was clear in his eyes and to Tikal's horror, the ice around his heart she had worked so hard to melt was beginning to freeze again.

"It wasn't permitted…" She started.

"Permitted?" He repeated. "And who the hell does the 'permitting'?!"

"That's not important." Tikal told him. "Please, I'm asking you not to do this. You'll doom Maria."

"And why should I listen to anything you have to say after this?" Shadow spat fuming with rage. "You lied to me Tikal." He tossed her away from him and about faced. Standing before the plant he reached his hand up and clutched the Emerald containing Maria's soul.

"Shadow don't!" She implored him but by now it was far too late. Without hesitation he sunk his arm up to the elbow into the waiting mouth.

There was a sudden loud crunch and Shadow cried out in pain, feeling serrated teeth sinking into the flesh. Blood surged down through transparent tentacles, pulsing up until it fed litre by litre into the heart of the plant.

As if suckling the Vampiric plant continuing feeding on the hedgehog, drawing out more and more of his blood.

"Shadow!" Tikal cried out, grabbing him by the free arm tying to pry him loose. Shadow simply stood there in a daze, feeling fainter and fainter as his blood left him. A strange tiredness overtook him and just when he started to see black spots the plant released its hold on him.

Shadow flew back, crashing to the floor; the fur on his arm stained red from the outline of a wound around the emblem. The Emerald sucked in, swallowed down through the plants neck before being pulled into a transparent flab of skin near the base of the flower itself. There vines and roots wrapped themselves around the stone, binding it in place before sucking it dry; its energy and the soul contained within drawn out and channelled upward.

Tikal watched in horror as the process took place and as the soul entered the flower, a loud scream of despair echoing out. Clutching his bleeding arm, Shadow hoisted himself up into a sitting position and watched.

A strange violet light began to pulse through the petals on the top of the flower and within, despite the agonizing pain in his arm Shadow could see a shape begin to form. It was small at first; the shape of a foetus inside a womb. Then it expanded outwards, growing larger and larger with each passing moment. Soon Shadow could not tell its distinct shape as it spread through the bulb, the petals pushing outwards.

Then it held rigid, the shape that of something curved into a ball; like a newborn child.

"Oh Shadow what have you done?" Tikal asked.

The dark hedgehog pulled himself up, blood dripping from the gouged wound; the mark on his arm now engraved like a scar rather than a tattoo.

"I…I have set myself on this path." He replied. "This is the end of that path and I will not stop before the abyss now." The dark hedgehog looked back at her and she had to flinch away in terror. The look on his face was that of cold distain and through his eyes, she saw directly into his heart.

The ice had now completely taken over, the warmth inside contained to the point were it was about to disappear completely. Any efforts she had made to remove it were now voided.

"How could you let this happen?" She asked.

"It is my will." A dark voice announced and the visage of Black Doom appeared, all three eyes glaring directly at her. His presence making itself known in a sudden flurry. Tikal backed out, eyes wide in fear.

As if acting on instinct, Chaos sprung out of the metal ground with outstretched claws. Shadow's dimply raised his hand and clenched a tight fist. A Chaos Spear shot forth and smashed into Tikal's defender. Chaos broke apart in a large explosion, parts of him raining down over the floor.

Tikal sank to her knees, cupping the remains of her age old friend in her hands; tears slowly filling her eyes.

The door to the lab opened and dozens of Fesonian guards rushed in.

"Throw her in the brig." Shadow told them, turning away and tending to the in jury on his arm. Tikal did not resist, she simply sat there as they applied shackles to her arms and legs and escorted her away.

"How long?" Shadow asked, ignoring her distancing sobbing cries.

"The incubation period should be swift." Black Doom replied. "The new body should take about five hours to gestate. In the meantime, I suggest you head down to the planet's surface and retrieve the final Chaos Emerald."

"I will go nowhere until Maria is reborn." The dark hedgehog told him, keeping his gaze locked upon the flower and the new body forming inside.

"You forget your position." Black Doom said sharply with an undercurrent of annoyance and frustration. "This is a process I have direct control over." He reached up with a single claw towards the flower and suddenly it shook as if trembling from the chamber's cold temperature. "I can interrupt or even abort if I so choose."

Shadow shot him a hostile sideways glance.

"Retrieve for me the last Chaos Emerald and she's all yours." Doom carried on. "But time is of the essence. Sonic and his friends are already down on the surface. You must reach the Emerald before they do."

Shadow pushed his upper lip up before he looked down at his feet. An angry hint came alive in his eyes. He snapped the fingers of his injured hand and one by one, the Chaos Emeralds warped into his presence; appearing around him like satellites. The red emerald within the tree shook for a moment before ploughing out the side and to Shadow's waiting hand.

The dark hedgehog's fur changed from black to silver for a single instant before reverting, the energy almost reaching the needed level required for Super form.

"I'll get you you're Emerald." I muttered. "But after that I never wanna see another Emerald again." He looked up sharply. "Chaos Control!"

As he and six of the emeralds disappeared in a flash of green light, Black Doom chuckled lightly.

"Don't worry Shadow, after this you won't."


--

"Guys, you're not going to believe this!" Chris declared as early warning alarms started going off throughout the Typhoon. Sonic stumbled onto the bridge, half tripping over the bandages Amy had wrapped around him. Miles was right behind him, nearly bumping into the blue hedgehog as he struggled to remove the white wrappings. "I swear it wasn't there a second ago."

Chris announced, calling them over to the console.

"What wasn't there?" Sonic asked, still trying to remove a now needless sling.

"That." Chris replied, pressing a button. With a short buzz a holographic display appeared before them. The Typhoon's long range sensors were capable of ranging a planets orbit from the ground. The aftermath of a collision had been observed and floating in amongst the wreckage of the Reptilian orbit defences was the space colony.

"The Ark?" Miles asked with wide eyes. "How the hell…"

"It's Shadow!" Sonic hissed. "He's here for the last Emerald!"

"If he gets that Emerald we're finished!" Chris muttered looking suddenly terrified.

"Dark Oak, come in Dark Oak!" The fox began reaching into his blue coat and taking out a small communications device with a screen on it. There was a short buzz of static before the reply came.

"This is Dark Oak." The synthesized voice stated but nothing appeared on screen. "I have retrieved the Emerald and..."

"Shadow is here!" Miles cut him off. "The Space Colony Ark has appeared in orbit. He'll be coming for the Emerald."

Silence endured for a moment.

"I see." Dark Oak replied eventually.

"Reinforcements are on the way, find a defensible spot and wait there." Miles told him almost cradling the communicator. "Everything is up to you now. Shadow must not get that Emerald.

"Understood, Dark Oak out." With that the communicator went silent.

"Come on, let's go!" Miles started turning to Sonic.

"What about Silver?" Chris asked. "That guy still wants to kill you and we can't hold him in that dome forever."

"Forget him, this is too important." Sonic remarked. "Bring backup, something tells me I'm going to need it!"

"There's no time to wait for it." Miles insisted. "This is a race now. If Shadow retrieves that Emerald, Black Doom will have won." Anger was clear in his voice. Sonic smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"He won't win." The hedgehog assured him. "And we'll get Cosmo back." Miles pressed his lips together as if quelling a powerful emotion. He placed his own hand on top of Sonic's in a silent thank you.

"Ok, let's go." Sonic added widening his grin. "Chaos Control!"

Dark Oak knew perfectly well that with six emeralds to back up his powers, Shadow was more than a match for him. The former general was skilled enough alright but hardly good enough to go up against that kind of power.

The ruins of the ancient titan civilisation spanned the swamps on Hydra almost completely and finding one, Dark Oak nestled himself inside and waited.

He knew well enough that he could not hide from a being that could sense the presence of Chaos Energy but it would provide him some protection long enough for help to arrive.

Above all else the final Emerald was not to fall into Black Doom's clutches. If it did then they were all doomed.

A loud screeching sound rang out and before Dark Oak could defend himself, several super powered Chaos Spear attacks came flying down through stone he was using to shield himself to strike him across the back.

Armour splintered away from his body as he collapsed to one knee. Despite the attack he kept a hold of the Emerald, pressing it tightly to his body.

"I know that Emerald is there!" A voice called out. "Black Doom wants you dead but I really have other things to do right now so simply hand it over and you can go."

"Only to be hunted down later when he unleashes Iblis?" Dark Oak demanded, pushing himself back up with a piece of his armour falling away. "The only way you're getting a hold of this Emerald is by prying it out of my cold metal hand."

Diving into the ruins centre, Dark Oak plunged into the swamp. Delving beneath the surface he dived as deep into the roots as he could. Trying to escape was probably utterly futile but he had to play for time.

Calling upon the power he had always had, the ability to control organic plant he forced the roots into a shield above himself barring the way to any who might try to follow him.

"You're wasting both my time and yours." Shadow remarked above, holding both arms out wide calling upon the six emeralds he had for power. Two balls of energy appeared beneath his outstretched fingers, crackling with power. Throwing them down, the attacks sank like depth charges into the water and once they reached a certain depth they exploded; sending shockwaves out that produced waves across the surface knocking some of the ruins over; the stone sinking.

Riding these underwater waves, Dark Oak used them to propel himself further and further away.

Reaching back, he sent one final command to the roots of the swamp. Without warned, they burst up through the water and formed themselves into a fight clenched fist.

"What on…" Shadow had just enough time to blurt out before this fist struck him; knocking him off his perched position on the top of a ruin and down into the water.

Bursting out of the water, Dark Oak took to flight trying to go as high as he could. Before he even reached any sort of altitude, an artillery strength Chaos Spear attack struck him across the side forcing him down.

Turning to react, he saw Shadow emerge out of a Chaos Control right next to him; the dark hedgehog's arms and legs folded in front of him.

"Chaos…" He started; his outline glowing blood red. "BLAST!"

The blast engulfed Dark Oak completely, subjecting him to the full brunt of its destructive power. Parts of his armour were reduced to ash instantly and his grey capes were burnt off. Sent flying he tumbled down before crashing into the stone ground beside the water below.

The shoulder pad of his left shoulder broke open upon impact as he tumbled, rolling to a stop.

Shadow dropped down to the ground nearby and walked over to the former general whose body was still trailing smoke.

"What as it you said before? Something about prying the Emerald out of your cold metal hand?" He asked smugly, clenching a fist with sparks travelling down his arm. "Well if you insist."

With Sonic and Miles already gone Knuckles, Amy, Blaze and Rouge were scrambling to make their way after them.

In the confusion, nobody was watching Silver; thinking him contained with the glass dome prison.

True his abilities could not penetrate the barrier but that did not mean the white hedgehog was without a plan. Physical contact with the glass was extremely painful but it was still just glass. It could be broken.

Silver had sat there for about several hours with his legs crossed and his eyes closed as if he were in meditation. What he was doing in fact was channelling his mind, focusing all his psychokinetic ability into his left arm. The marks on the back of that hand were glowing so brightly it dwarfed all other light sources.

Once he was ready he slowly rose to his feet and opened his yellow eyes. The outline of his left hand was glowing so brightly he cast dark shadows throughout the room. The telekinesis was enhancing the strength of his arm, turning into a battering ram. Silver could not do this multiple times. Enhancing his strength this much required a great deal of concentration and energy.

If it didn't work it would be a while before he had the strength to try again.

Drawing his arm back, Silver tensed his muscles and forced himself to think of that moment when Blaze, his Blaze, had died.

Knowing she had no chance of winning, simply to give Silver a chance at escaping to the past, she charged at Mephiles. With a simple gesture of his hand, the crystalline hedgehog tore her body apart and scorched the remains.

That gave him all the conviction he required.

Throwing his fist forward he struck the side of the glass. The pain he experienced from the energy field was nothing compared to what he had already suffered and ploughing on through, his fist shattered the glass and he tumbled forward onto the floor outside the prison.

He felt drained and tired and the lure of rest was intoxicating but straining against it, the white hedgehog pulled himself to his feet.

"I never thought I'd have to go after Shadow." Knuckles remarked as the four of them bundled out into the hanger bay where Sam Speed was waiting for them, the Conejo car he had picked up on planet Chimera perched on the top of the lowered ramp ready to move.

"He doesn't know what he's doing." Blaze stated. "Loki is the god of tricks. His lies can be sweet poison to anyone who will listen."

"Come on, let's go!" Sam waved them down as he jumped into the driver's seat. The others got inside.

"This is where the Speed king reclaims this throne!" He declared, flooring his foot against the accelerator. His sports car revved its engine before the vehicle flew out of the hanger at break neck speed.

As he passed underneath, Silver leapt from the top of the Typhoon and timing the jump just right he landed on the top of the car. Using telekinesis to soften his landing he barley made a sound and Sam carried on over the terrain, moving out to meet the rendezvous point.

"You're not getting away this time Iblis Trigger." He muttered. "I'm ending this nightmare here and now."