Chapter 51: Mission

Once Shawn got close enough, the explosions got louder and he saw that they were being caused by G. U. N. soldiers firing at the Black Arms who were fighting back with their own weapons. He also noticed a teenage boy who looked to be about sixteen with long red hair punching Black Arms aliens with unusually large fists. Once Shawn warped behind the teenager and walked toward him, the teenager turned around revealing it to be Knuckles.

"Shawn!" Knuckles exclaimed. "How'd you get here?"

"It would take a while to explain," Shawn answered, holding his pistol up and firing it at a Black Arms alien that was heading toward Knuckles.

"Suit yourself," Knuckles said and went back to punching incoming Black Arms aliens while Shawn fired bullets at them. "I was just chilling out here on break from guarding the Master Emerald when these aliens started showing up and taking over the place. Fortunately, the G. U. N. soldiers are here, but I'm worried they won't hold out for very long. Would you mind giving them a hand further up while I take care of these guys?"

"Well, I'm kind of in a hurry but I guess I could help them while I'm looking for Chaos Emeralds," Shawn answered and warped away before Knuckles could ask him further questions.

###

Further down the canyon, Shawn decided to trade his pistol for a semi-automatic rifle.

"It seems that when I have a Chaos Emerald on hand, I can warp further distances," Shawn said to himself, and then he felt another headache.

The image that came to his mind was him standing on top a giant robot looking down at Sonic. When Sonic noticed him, he took out the Green Chaos Emerald. There was a flash of light, and then Shawn was standing on the roof of a building that was adjacent to the robot.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," said Doom's Eye appearing in front of Shawn. "I'm very disappointed in you."

"What did I do this time?" Shawn asked irritably as the image faded from his mind. "I was just on my way to getting another Chaos Emerald."

"Liar!" Doom's Eye said impatiently. "I saw you firing bullets at our soldiers! You're no different from the way you were before."

"Before? What do you mean?"

"Silence!"

Shawn suddenly felt the mark on his arm burn, which caused him to wince in pain.

"Now, are you with us or against us?"

"I'm…with you, the Black Arms," Shawn said with conviction despite the burning sensation growing worse.

"Good," Doom's Eye said, and the pain in Shawn's arm went away. "Now, I need you to activate the six jewels that are scattered throughout this canyon in order to activate this temple under our feet. If you accomplish this task without injuring our soldiers, I shall reward you with a Chaos Emerald."

Then Doom's Eye floated away, leaving Shawn dumbfounded.

###

Though Shawn did as Doom's Eye asked, he did not fire at the G. U. N. soldiers. Unfortunately, they assumed he was on their side and fired at him constantly. He mostly warped out of the way, which distracted the G. U. N. soldiers enough to allow the Black Arms aliens to attack. As soon as the last sphere-shaped jewel had been activated, Doom's Eye appeared once more and produced the Yellow Chaos Emerald from its tentacle-like arms.

Shawn eagerly took the Chaos Emerald and said, "Where do you want me to go next?"

"Cryptic Castle," Doom's Eye replied. "There's another Chaos Emerald there and I want you to take care of a certain mad scientist who is disrupting our plans."

"You mean Dr. Robot—I mean, Dr. Eggman?"

"Precisely."

There was a flash of light, and Shawn soon found himself inside a dimly lit chamber that was circular in shape. Circuit boards and machines lined the walls except for a row of glass near the roof. Through them, Shawn could see Dr. Robotnik flying around in the Egg Mobile.

"Is that Dr. Robotnik, or Eggman?" Shawn wondered. "If it's Eggman, he must know a thing or two about Shadow."

Stepping out of the transporter device the Black Arms had left, Shawn stepped through a door that opened automatically. On the other side, he found himself standing in a hallway made of brimstone with torches lined along the walls with floating robots shaped like scarecrows and ghosts. Making his way past the robots, Shawn eventually came upon a pink-haired girl with hedgehog ears whom he remembered fighting Sonic back at the Power Plant in Grand Metropolis City.

"Shawn!" the girl exclaimed. "Long time no see."

"Do I…know you?" Shawn asked.

"We must've never been properly introduced," the girl said, and held out her white gloved hand. "I'm Amy, but my host's name is Amelia."

"Shawn Robotnik," Shawn said, taking Amy's hand.

"Aren't you Shadow's host?"

"What?"

"Oh, sorry," Amy said shyly. "That's what Tails told me, anyway."

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Who's Tails?"

"He's a friend of Sonic's. I'll introduce you to him later, but right now I'm…kind of having a dilemma."

"What kind?"

"Well, my friend Cream went into this castle a little while ago and she…never came out. So I went into to look for her, but I have no idea where to start. Do you think you could help me?"

"Ugh, I don't have time for this," Shawn muttered, and warped ahead of Amy by several meters.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Amy yelled, running after Shawn. "Don't leave me behind!"

###

Once he got to the courtyard of Cryptic Castle, Shawn noticed the Silver Chaos Emerald floating in midair.

"Finally," Shawn said exasperatedly as he had been warping non-stop throughout the entire castle. "I've found another Chaos Emerald."

But before he could reach it, a large mech appeared from a hole underneath the floor with Dr. Robotnik sitting in the driver's seat. He used the mech's robotic arm to grab the Silver Chaos Emerald and said triumphantly, "Well, well, if it isn't my host's dear cousin Shawn Robotnik. So good of you to drop in, but I wish you could've picked a better time."

"Eggman!" Shawn exclaimed. "Give me the Chaos Emerald! I need it to find out who Shadow is."

Dr. Eggman chuckled. "You must be joking! This Chaos Emerald belongs to me and me alone. Now get out of my way, or do I have to crush you like the Black Arms that are storming my castle?"

"If you're going to crush Shawn, then you'll have to get past me!" Amy shouted, charging at Eggman's mech with her Piko Hammer.

To be continued…