Chapter 23
Eggman laughs again as Dark Sonic throws Knuckles at the rest of the group then turns back towards him. Shadow and Blaze manage to catch him before he hits the ground.
"Ha! That's original," Dark Sonic said tapping her foot.
"Are you okay?" Blaze asked as Knuckles coughs rubbing his throat,
"I'll… Live…" He said as he gets up to his feet.
"Couldn't you think of anything cooler?" Dark Sonic said sarcastically,
"Enough back talk!" Eggman yelled,
"As you wish," Dark Sonic said with a shrug. Tails placed all of the pieces together realizing that all of this was part of Eggman's scheme.
"This was his plan all along…" Tails said,
"What do you mean?" Shadow said,
"Eggman needed Chaos energy to complete her transformation. And we fell for it…" She said,
"Right you are Tails," Eggman said, "I used the same hypnotic suggestion on myself to remove that idiot Professor Ivo from my mind. But I knew it wouldn't be as easy for someone with a Chaos Emerald protecting them. So I tainted the thing protecting her, and the result is better that I could have imagined." He praises himself.
"What do we do?" Cream asked as they all give one another glances trying to think of a plan.
"Now Dark Sonic…" Eggman points at them and smiles, "Break them."
"With pleasure," She said getting ready to dash towards them,
"Blaze… Get Cream and Tails out of here…" Knuckles said, giving Shadow a knowing look. Both of them knew they all were reaching their limit and they had to try and escape.
"You're in no condition to fight!" Cream protested as Dark Sonic dashes forward in the blink of an eye appearing in front of Tails. Shadow grabs her by the collar and pulls Tails out of the way of a kick that swings next to her.
"Aw! I missed," Dark Sonic said sounding disappointed then turning towards Tails and Shadow, "It won't happen again." Shadow looks at Tails,
"We don't have time to argue! Go, now!" she yelled as she pushes Tails towards Blaze and Cream and runs at Dark Sonic. They clash quickly moving around the room in blue and black blurs. "Sonic, snap out if it!"
"We gotta go!" Cream grabs Tails' arm pulling her towards the exit.
"You'll have to get past me first!" Eggman said moving the robot in their path as Knuckles runs in front of them,
"Why do you think I'm here?" He said punching one of the legs as in bends in and begins to lose its balance falling over out of their way.
"Blast you!" Eggman yelled trying to rebalance the robot.
"Keep moving!" Blaze said pushing both Cream and Tails forward. None of them could keep track of Dark Sonic and Shadows fight. They were too fast, and Shadow knew Dark Sonic had the upper hand with a fully charged Chaos Emerald.
"I see what you're doing Shads, but you're gonna have to do better than that to save your friends." Dark Sonic said as she disappears. Shadow stops, looking around trying to see where she went when she appears behind Blaze, kicking her in the back of the head causing her to be thrown into a wall.
"Blaze!" Cream scrams in fear as Blaze falls from the wall unconscious. Sonic looks at Cream and Tails they both freeze in fear as she began to get ready to strike again.
"Not on my watch!" Knuckles runs up swinging a fist at Dark Sonic, she jumps back and laughs,
"Aww, protecting them won't keep them safe." She said running up and grabbing his arm and throwing him over her shoulder to the ground, "I already took out Blaze with one kick to the back of the skull. I wonder how many hit's it'll take to open you up like a piñata." She chuckles. Tails was in shock; the person in front of her this Dark Sonic was playing with them and she was enjoying it. She could no longer recognize her best friend.
"Tails! Help me get her up!" Cream begged with tears in her eyes as Tails snaps out of it. She knew this wasn't the time to freeze… They'll all die if they don't get out of there. She helps Cream pull Blaze up by the shoulders and start to drag her towards the exit.
"Not so fast!" Eggman said as he manages to get one of the arms to swing towards them. Shadow runs up and spin dashes through the hand stopping the attack.
"Go! We'll hold them off." Shadow said as Dark Sonic throws Knuckles into the air. Tails and Cream reluctantly continue towards the submarine making it to the staircase.
"Forgot how slow you were Knux," Dark Sonic joked kicking him back down into the ground.
"Sonic… You gotta fight…" Knuckles was struggling to talk as Dark Sonic comes down on his ribs.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of you coughing up blood." She laughed, Just as Shadow could see Tails and Cream were out of sight she runs back and kicks Dark Sonic off on Knuckles. "Two against one? That's not a fair fight." She teased as she got back up to her feet, "Not fair for you."
"Saya please, I know you're in there." Shadow tried pleading with her as she helps Knuckles to his feet. He was having trouble breathing and she could tell he wasn't going to hold out much longer.
"Didn't you hear Robotnik?" Dark Sonic said spin dashing Knuckles knocking him away from Shadow and standing next to her. She leans uncomfortably close to her face and grins. "Saya is gone." She grabs Shadow and throws her at Knuckles right as he was trying to stand up. "Now, I'll kill you both and then I can take my time killing the three trying to escape." Shadow lowers her head and starts to whisper,
"Cream, when you get in the sub get ready to dive. Wait for my signal." She said,
"What was that Shads?" Dark Sonic said cupping her hand around her ear unable to hear what she just said,
"I said, we're not going down that easy." She said running towards her.
Cream heard Shadows whisper amongst all of the noise as her and Tails finally get to the bottom of the stairs. They carry Blaze over towards the submarine as Sally opens the door and runs up.
"What is happening?" Sally asked seeing Blaze unconscious and her head bleeding,
"There's no time!" Cream said, "We need to get the sub ready to leave."
"Where are the others?"
"Sally do it!" Tails yells as she stops giving them a frightened look and runs back into the submarine as they slowly follow after her.
Dark Sonic and Shadow continued to clash as Dark Sonic pins her to a wall as she knees Shadow in the stomach causing her to cough spitting blood.
"So much for you being the Ultimate Lifeform, you can't even keep up." She said sounding bored, as Knuckles staggers over and attempts to strike Dark Sonic but there was no more strength behind his attacks as she easily dodges, "I'm surprised you're still standing," She grabs him by the neck and throws him into the ground holding him there. "We should change that." She tightened her grip as he struggled to breathe. Shadow punches her in the face and tackles her off of him.
"Knuckles, you okay?" Shadow asked as he coughs rolling off of his back attempting to stand back up with shaky arms but could no longer bear the immense pain coursing through his body. He had reached his limit, his arms buckle and collapses falling unconscious.
"There he goes!" She clapped, "Man that guy could take a beating!" Dark Sonic said shaking her head, "Now it's just you and me."
"I'm here too!" Eggman protested trying to get his robot to move,
"Oh yeah, and him." She said rolling her eyes.
"That's where you're wrong." Shadow said making Dark Sonic raise an eyebrow,
"What are you talking about? If you hadn't noticed Knux is down for the count and the rest of your friends ran away." Dark Sonic taunted, Shadow quickly runs up and picks up Knuckles.
"You're wrong, cuz now it's just you." She said with a grin, "Chaos Control!" Shadow teleports faster than Dark Sonic could stop her.
Tails and Cream pull Blaze into the submarine and secure her in a seat. TK started to check Blaze's head wound while Cream walks over to the door and shuts it.
"What are you doing?" Sally said,
"Be ready to dive at any second." Cream said trying to fight through the tears as they were already streaming down her face.
"A…alright." She said prepping the sub. All three of them are blinded by a Green flash as Shadow appears next to Tails holding Knuckles.
"DIVE!" She screamed as Sally quickly followed orders and in a matter of seconds, they were underwater and out of Eggman's base. Cream and Tails see that Knuckles was unconscious and Shadow looked bloodied ready to collapse.
"Let me help you," Cream said helping Shadow lay Knuckles on the ground.
"She barely gave us a chance to react…" Shadow said breathing heavily the fatigue finally took over, "We barely…" Her eyes darken as she begins to collapse as Tails and Cream catch her.
"Is someone going to tell me what happened?" Sally yelled confused and angry. Cream and Tails lie Shadow down next to Knuckles. "Where's Saya?" she asked but they didn't know how to answer. They both just stare at one another with tears running down their cheeks.
"We failed…" Tails said as all of their transformations end in a flask of light.
"Failed? What do you mean? What happened?" Sally said trying to concentrate on piloting the sub moving at top speed trying to make as much distance between them and the underwater base. While trying to look at Tails and Cream to get them to talk, she could see from the corner of her eye both Sophia and Kolt unconscious.
"We need to stop any bleeding first…" Caroline said wiping her eyes as she grabs the medical bag.
"This is Sally," She said over the radio to inform Elias. "Mission failed we're going to need emergency Medical assistance when we breach the surface."
"Failed? How did it fail?" They all could hear Elias' voice through the speaker, "I'm having Dr. Q mobilized to meet you at the docks. How many injured?"
"Three?" She said with a question towards both Cream and Tails. They nod as they begin to bandage up Sophia and Kolt best they can. "Yes three."
"Understood, we'll see you soon." Elias said,
"Okay girls, I'd really like to know what happened."
"It was a trap." TK said,
"Weren't we expecting it to be?" She asked,
"Yes but the trap was a red herring. Eggman did something to Sonic… She turned on us." TK explained.
"Wait you're not telling me that those injuries…"
"Are from Sonic…" Caroline said as she couldn't bear it any longer and began to cry. All TK could do was hug her trying to fight crying as well.
"We barely made it out…" TK said,
"Our first priority is to make sure the others are all okay." Sally said, "For now you two just keep an eye on them. We're almost to the surface." They sat in silence watching over their friends.
They make it up to the surface where Elias and Dr. Q were waiting with stretchers and backup. Sally, Caroline, and Tails get out of the way as Dr. Q quickly gets them prepped to be moved back to the base.
"Are you two…" Elias stops as he looks at Caroline and TK both in shock, barely coherent of their surroundings. "Let's get back." He said as he and Sally lead them to the car giving each other concerned glances while Dr. Q worked with a team to get Sophia, Brandy and Kolt onto the Helicopter. They head back to Freedom HQ without a word only left with the feeling of failure.
Back in the underwater base, Eggman was attempting to climb out of his destroyed robot as Dark Sonic walks up to him,
"They got away," Dark Sonic said sounding disappointed,
"You let them get away," He glared as he slips falling out of the robot onto the ground in front of Dark Sonic. Eggman jumps back up to his feet annoyed.
"Did not! I can't teleport constantly like Shadow and they escaped in a submarine. In case you forgot; I can't swim." She said crossing her arms.
"Right, well, it doesn't matter we were moving bases after they showed up regardless."
"If I last that long," Dark Sonic said, "How do you intent to stop Saya from coming back? I'm kinda on a time limit." She asked following Eggman to his lab. "You and I know she's not actually gone." She said with air quotes.
"Here," Eggman tosses her the Dark Chaos Emerald, "Keep it with you until we get to our new location. I won't need it till then."
"So that's how we keep the Emerald full of Dark Chaos energy. Seems more convenient then the Master Emerald."
"You can't carry it all the time I have experiments to run. Besides it's safer to keep it hidden from the Freedom Fighters." He said going over to the computer and removing the external hard drive. "For now, tell me everything you know about them."
"Where would you like me to start?"
Caroline and TK were sitting in the kitchen waiting to hear how their friends were doing. Sally made them both a cup of tea and was trying to snap them out of it.
"Girls?" She called out to them as she handed them their teacups. They both took them without a word and continued to sit there. Elias enters the room and looks at them with a worried expression.
"Anything?" He asked as Sally walked up to him,
"They haven't said a word… their spirits are broken."
"Did they tell you anything?" He asked as Sally looks at the girls then gestures to continue talking in the hallway. They both leave the kitchen to continue talking.
"TK said the one who injured Sophia, Kolt and Brandy was Sonic…"
"What?"
"She said Sonic turned on them? But that's all I could get before they were too focused on making sure Kolt and Sophia were okay."
"We need the whole story," Elias said,
"I know… but I think we're better off waiting until one of the others wakes up. They need time." She said,
"I'm pretty sure Helen would agree." Elias said with a sigh. "Try to keep an eye on them."
"I will," She nods going back into the kitchen. TK and Caroline hadn't moved or taken a sip of their tea. Elias heads back to the infirmary to check on how the others were doing. Dr. Q walks out of the Infirmary just as he gets there.
"Helen, how are they?" He asked as she lets out a sigh.
"They're out of danger… Honestly if they didn't have the Chaos Emeralds, I don't think Kolt would have made it…"
"That bad?"
"Brandy got off the easiest, Just a concussion. She might be up by tomorrow morning. Sophia's in pretty bad shape. She has countless fractures in her arms and legs. Kolt has three broken ribs and is slowly recovering from bleeding internally. I had to put him on a respirator." She said,
"When do you think Sophia or Kolt will be better?" Elias asked,
"Kolt I'm not sure, the amount of injuries he sustained will take some time to heal. Sophia might be up within a day or two."
"Alright, try to get some rest." He said going to put his hand on her shoulder than stops, "You should know… Sally just told me that TK told her that Sonic was the one who caused the injuries…"
"You can't be serious." Dr. Q stepped back in shock not believing what he said, "Saya would never."
"I'm just telling you what Sally told me. We don't have the whole story yet. TK and Caroline stopped talking after they got off the Submarine." Elias said,
"Maybe hearing the others are out of danger will help them. I'll ask if they want to wait for them to wake up in the infirmary. Even if that doesn't help them snap out of it at least I can keep an eye on them." She notices Elias' hand shaking, "Elias? Are you alright?"
"No, how could I be alright? That mission was a complete failure… On top of it all three of them were seriously injured." He said clenching his fist. "What if all of this was a mistake?"
"Elias, I've known you for a long time. Your parents were the ones who found the Master Emerald and grew up hearing them tell stories about the Seven Servers. You and Sally have been doing an amazing job keeping the Master Emerald safe." She grabs his hand, "You couldn't have known the servers would be kids."
"We should have trained them more…"
"More than having superpowers?"
"Look where that got them…"
"You need to stop beating yourself up. I need to go check on those girls." She said starting to walk towards the kitchen, "Just don't forget that this team needs you." She walks into the kitchen to see Sally sitting with TK and Caroline as all three of them look up as they see her.
"How are they?" Sally asked,
"They'll live," Dr. Q said as she could instantly see a small light of hope in their eyes. "Do you girls want to wait for them to wake up in the infirmary?" They both nod and begin to stand up. "I'll keep an eye on them Sally, you go get some rest." She said,
"Don't forget you're going to need rest too." She said,
"After I make sure all of my patients are okay." Dr. Q said with a smile placing a hand on both Caroling and TK's shoulders leading them to the infirmary. She gets them chairs as Caroline sits next to Brandy, TK sits in between Sophia and Kolt and they wait for them to wake up.