The ebony hedgehog growled as he was stabbed with another needle that injected an unknown serum into his blood stream. His body was weak from the beatings of Metal Sonic, his Chaos Powers weren't healing himself because of the inhibitor rings that prevented him from doing just that were still cuffed around his ankles and wrists.
The robotic arms that held the needle went back to their place on the wall, as they went into hibernation, Dr. Eggman's voice rained down on him from a speaker that hovered above him connected to the furthest wall.
"Stay awake, Project. In order for the serum to take full affect, you need to be in your weakest state but fully alert," the doctor's voice was monotone, his anger still not extinguished from previously along with the anger at Shadow's in capability to successfully succeed his mission.
Reluctantly, the black furred hedgehog stayed awake. He rolled over from his stomach to his back to sit up. Lean muscles screamed for him to stop moving, the soreness and pain from newly opened gashes making it almost unbearable. His veins burned as the serum courses through his body, the feeling of the burning caused him to clench his already aching muscles, which in turn made blood drip from his new cuts.
The pain was getting overbearing and too overwhelming, he growled and groaned in agony. A few moments that seemed like an eternity passed by, his body relaxed as he fell back, eyes rolling to the back of his head as he hit the cold floor.
"Metal, remove his cuffs and return his old ones. The serum has been completed."
The blue colored robot did as told, he scanned Shadow's body for signs of life and was met with an extremely low heart rate beating under ebony fur. Once completed, he returned outside of the containment chamber by Eggman's side. After a few minutes, Shadow's battered and bruised body slowly healed its self, his eyes fluttering awake.
"That is not Shadow," Metal's robotic voice spoke out as he looked at the ebony Mobian slowly stand.
"Oh but it is!" the doctor chipped happily,"In the serum I injected was a reprogramming mechanism that would reset his memory. But I modified it to see us as the good guys and the blue rodent and friends as the bad guys."
"That's what you did before."
The round man glared at the robot,"yes, but this time I programmed it so that he believes Sonic killed Maria. There's nothing that will stop him until he kills that blasted blue hedgehog, I have full control over him with this!-" the man held up a remote that controlled the device that was injected into Shadow's bloodstream along with the memory numbing serum."-he won't be able to resist commands! I have full control over him."
The engine of the Tornado roared over the sound of wind whipping past them. Knuckles and Sonic sat on opposite wings while Rouge sat behind the cockpit, Tails flying them to their desired destination.
"We're about 5 minutes out, everyone! Prepare for landing," the kit slowly steered the bi-plane downward, his flying experience being a great help with a smooth landing.
Once on solid ground, the foursome hopped out of their seats and onto the soft grass below. They were covered by nightfall, Rouge took to the sky to scout ahead while the remaining three followed the muted beeping of the tracking chip through the miles electric. They walked through the jungle of trees and bushes until the trio came to a halt.
"Why'd we stop?" Knuckles looked around,"there's nothing here."
Tails looked quizzical,"the tracking chip says it's right here, I don't know why it would lead us to the middle of the forest."
Using his trained eyes, Sonic looked around the forest, not seeing signs of anything. His cobalt ears twitched as he heard ruffling from the leaves above them,"wait-"
Within a moments notice, Rouge emerged from the sky,"hello, boys."
Knuckles let out a sigh of relief,"damnit, Rouge, you gave us all a heart attack!"
"Maybe only you, scardy-cat," she winked at the red echidna then turned to Sonic,"I found Eggman's base around 2 miles north, we're close."
Nodding, Sonic was about to tell his crew to start heading in the direction of the base but a flash of gold caugh his eye. Time seemed to be in slow motion as he saw what looked like a golden spear heading straight for his head emerged from the tree line. Using his super sonic speed, he pushed his friends out of the way, missing the spear by just a few quils.
The group was startled, Tails covered his head with his Miles electric while Knuckles stood up with Rouge who stood in a fighting stance. Rustling came from the direction the golden spear was shot from.
Out walked Shadow, healed completely of the cuts and bruises that littered his body only a day before. He was healed, yet something was off. His eyes were completely dilated, his body movement showed he was out for blood at the very least.
Golden sparks shot out of his clenched fists, the golden color the same as his inhibitor rings. His whole body radiated with pure Chaos Energy and anger.
Sonic immediately noticed the danger they were faced with, without turning to his friends, he spoke,"go to the base. See what Eggman did. Be careful."
Tails was about to protest but saw Sonic's quils stand on end, immediately sharpening. He noticed something was wrong with Shadow and a quick scan of Shadow's body showed signs of something that wasn't supposed to be there. Within a moments notice, the thrill took to the sky's towards the base while Sonic and Shadow stared at one another, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Shadow, I don't want to fight."
"You killed her."
Sonic was taken aback but didn't let it get the better side of him, still sensing the danger,"I didn't kill anyone, Shadow."
"Liar!" The ebony hedgehog growled almost savagely and the sparks in his clenched fists grew brighter as he threw another Chaos Spear toward the blue hedgehog, the other barely able to dodge it in their close proximity.
"Shadow!" Sonic growled back,"whatever Eggman told you is a lie!"
He summer saulted out of the way as Shadow jumped towards him, ready to punch the blue hedgehog.
Using Shadow's momentum against him, Sonic grabbed the fist that almost hit him with his left hand and used his right hand to put the ebony hedgehog into a choke hold,"I was the one who found you! I was the one who taught you your first words! I helped you-"
He was cut off when Shadow elbowed him in the stomach to free himself. Ebony gloved hands grabbed the blue hedgehog by the neck and threw him against a tree. Sonic yipped when his back hit the hard bark of the tree but ultimately jumped out of the way when Shadow's fist once again was aimed in his direction with Chaos energy fueling his every step.
Shadow's fist collided with the tree, snapping the years of growth in half with ease. The tree cracked as it tipped over and fell. Sonic's eyes widened as he thought,'shit.. he's stronger than I thought.'
Sonic's temporary thought caused him to miss the flying kick aimed in his direction as he was hit straight on. His face ached as he flew back, his eye already swelling up from the misuse.
He landed hard on the dirt covered ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise. Through the dust cloud, he saw the sparks of Shadow's fists coming closer to him. Taking the realization that Shadow was coming, he stood up quickly, ready to fight once again but was met with confusion.
He looked around, his left eye burning as he looked back and forth for his enemy. His body was starting to ache but he ignored it, resuming his fighting stance.
The trio circled the base, looking for a way in without alarming the system that intruders were around. Although it seemed pointless considering Shadow was lurking around fighting Sonic, the group was aware Eggman knew they were close.
Tailed turned to the remaining two," I just need to find a mainframe to connect to. If I can find that, I can see what Eggman did to Shadow."
The duo nodded and continued their quiet search. The older two noticed the blood thirsty stare Shadow had, he hadn't looked their way, his eyes only trained on Sonic as if they weren't there in the first place.
"Ive got a bad feeling about this," Knuckles looked at the sky, his body and mind screaming to be on high alert.
As if in cue, Metal Sonic emerged from the clouds above, his robotic stare glaring daggers at the trio.
"Nice going, Knuckles," Rouge stood ready to fight but turned to Tails," you go on ahead of us. We'll catch up after he kick some robot ass."
The dual tailed fox nodded and scurried off to complete his own mission as the older Mobians stood ready to fight Sonic's robot copy.
"Foolish Mobians. You cannot defeat me, I am Metal-"
Metal Sonic's dialog was ruined by a fairly large bolder hitting him square in the chest. Knuckles looked pleased as he said,"you even have Sonic's ego."
The robots glare got heavier as he charged at the two. Rouge was able to successfully preform a spinning heel kick to the engine of Metal Sonic's body but it wasn't enough to overpower him. The robot aimed his claws at Knuckles but was stopped when the red gaurdian caught his hand with ease.
"You've gotten weak, Metal. Eggman not paying you enough attention?" Knuckles smirked as he grabbed hold of Metal's body and stretched him out,"Now, Rouge!"
The ivory bat drop kicked her heel between Metal Sonic's head and body, successful dismembering his head from his body.
With a quick victory kiss, the duo left the robot to search for their twin tailed fox.
