Chapter 27
The Freedom fighters get back to base and quickly head to the computer room to tell Elias what happened. "Kolt, go see Dr. Q, she's probably upset that I pulled you out of whatever it was you were doing." Sophia said,
"I was really close to figuring out if there were any other Dark Chaos Emeralds." He said as he glared at her, "Now I'm going to have to start over." He said walking,
"What was that about?" TK asked, she gives Caroline ad Brandy a look of confusion as they both shrug.
"Not important," Sophia said as she walks up to Elias,
"Are you two alright?" Elias asked Caroline and Brandy,
"We're okay, just a little shaken up," Caroline said,
"But we are positive now that we can save Saya." TK said looking hopeful,
"How can you be sure?" Sally asked,
"For a second, after Shadow said something to her, her eyes turned green." Bandy explained,
"And it seemed to affect her after that happened." TK said like she was struggling with herself,
"What did you say to her?" Elias asked looking at Sophia,
"I called her a faker." Sophia said crossing her arms,
"Faker?" Sally said,
"Yeah, we used to call each other that before," Sophia explained, "We didn't really get to a first name basis until I think after the third attempt to kill each other." She pondered trying to remember if it was third or fourth. They all look at her concerned, "Did you all forget that I tried to blow up the world when you first met me?"
"The way you said it just threw us off is all…" Caroline said,
"Sorry," Sophia said but her tone sounded indifferent.
"But this is good, we just have to figure out other triggers to snap her out of it." Elias said,
"I bet Dr. Q would know of a few ways to figure out triggers." Brandy said,
"Good idea, Sophia why don't you go talk to Dr. Q about it." Elias said,
"Fine," She said leaving the room.
"Does she seem off to you?" TK asked, "She practically snapped at me earlier."
"Kolt was acting a little weird as well…" Caroline said.
"She did seem more irritated than usual." Sally said, "She's probably just a little stressed, I'm just glad you girls are okay." She said heading back to work.
"Do you want to go make that pie Caroline?" Brandy said,
"Oh yes, that sounds great!" Caroline said with a smile,
"I've got a few more tests to do." TK said leaving the room. Brandy and Caroline give each other a look worried at how much TK has been distancing herself.
At the Infirmary Dr. Q started to look Kolt over as she noticed he was getting impatient and irritated.
"Everything alright Kolt?" She asked,
"Yeah, Are we almost done here? I should really get back to the Master Emerald." He said,
"Why?"
"Because I'm the guardian." He said sounding confused by her question.
"Okay? Let me just check a few more things then you'll be good to go." She said as Sophia walks into the room.
"You got a minute?" She asked,
"Just a moment I'm almost done with Kolt." She said finishing up with Kolt, "Nothing looks out of the ordinary, just let me know if you feel any different." She said as she notices Kolt making side glances at Sophia, "Everything alright with you two?" she asked as they both look away. Sophia started to pick up that she was getting irritated for no reason, similar to before she transformed into Shadow the first time. She walks over to Kolt and touches his arm as they both get shocked.
"Ow! What the hell Shadow are you trying to pick a fight?" Kolt said standing up clenching his fists ready to punch her.
"You just called me Shadow." Sophia said as he stops looking shocked,
"I… I did?"
"We need to go back to the alter room." Sophia said,
"Why?" Dr. Q asked as Sophia heads to the door.
"More of my old personality is bleeding through, and it looks like that's the same issue with Kolt. I'm fairly sure it's because I interrupted that stupid ritual." She said as they follow her to the Alter room.
"Sophia… I'm sorry for snapping…" Kolt said feeling bad for letting his emotions control his actions,
"It's fine, you and I didn't really get along in our past lives. Tikal, we need your help." Sophia said as she appears.
"Is everything alright?" Tikal asked as she takes a look at them, "Oh no…"
"I don't like the sound of that," Dr. Q said.
"So you can see it?" Kolt asked,
"Your souls are unaligned." She said,
"Can you fix it?" Sophia said, "I'm trying to be less like Shadow, not turn into him." She said taking Kolt off guard for a second.
"Yeah… I don't think I need to be more of a hot head then I already am…" He added.
"Come with me." She said as they climb up to the Master Emerald, "Put your hand on the Emerald." She said as they both reach out for the Emerald. Right as they touch the Master Emerald, they feel that shock again as they see each other's eyes change colors for a split second then they revert back to their original color.
"Your eyes…" Kolt looked at Sophia confused,
"When we were working earlier you had absorbed a lot of Chaos energy. Sophia interrupting your concentration literally shocked your souls." Tikal explained.
"So we're good now?" Sophia said taking her hand off the Master Emerald.
"How do you two feel?" Dr. Q asked,
"Fine, not as irritated, that's for sure." Kolt said,
"And there won't be any Chaos Poisoning we have to worry about?" Sophia asked,
"Chaos Poisoning?" Kolt asked looking confused,
"Right, you don't know. Saya almost died because she induced Chaos Control while in her human form." Sophia explained,
"She did what?" Kolt looked worried,
"Your bodies can't contain Chaos energy like your previous forms can, it's why you transform in the first place." Tikal explained,
"So, are we going to get Chaos poisoning now?" Kolt asked as Tikal shakes her head.
"All we did was push your Souls back into place. There shouldn't be any side effects." Tikal said,
"That's still vague enough for me to be worried…" Dr. Q said. "You both are now under surveillance for the next twenty-four hours."
"What?" Kolt said lowering his head looking defeated, "This is exactly what I didn't want to happen…"
"Sorry, I take responsibility for this." Sophia said as Dr. Q starts dragging them back to the infirmary.
Dark Sonic wakes up in a dream about floating through endless darkness. She feels something grab her shoulder and she turns her around.
"You're not getting rid of me that easy pal!" She sees Saya in front of her striking her in the face with a fist causing her to wake up suddenly. She jolts awake hitting her head on the glass door of the chamber.
"Oh you gotta be kidding me…" Dark Sonic said grabbing her head as Eggman presses a button unlocking the chamber.
"Looks like you didn't sleep well." He said continuing to tinker,
"Blame Saya…" She said climbing out of the chamber holding her head,
"What?" Eggman stops working and turns towards her.
"She's finding different ways to fight me, have you found a way to remove her yet?" Dark sonic asked,
"No, I thought it would be like how I sealed away Professor Ivo. But somehow, she's fighting to get free… How is she managing that?" Eggman looks through his notes again,
"Maybe because she's connected to Chaos, Tikal changed her body so that Saya's human form could use Chaos Energy." Dark Sonic explained,
"What? Why am I just hearing about this now?" Eggman asked,
"You didn't ask," Dark Sonic said sounding annoyed.
"So that's how she's able to fight back… I'll need to try a few things; you should stay within the chamber." He said,
"Fine." She said climbing back in.
At the end of the week, Sophia heads to the kitchen to talk to Caroline about joining her on Team Dark's mission. "Hey Caroline, you busy?" She asked spotting her in the hall,
"Not really, what's up." Caroline asked,
"I was wondering if you could join Team Dark on a mission." She said,
"You're still working with Team Dark?" Caroline asked,
"Elias wants us to investigate Eggman's Underwater base to see if we can find any clues about Saya." She said,
"Well if there's any way I can help then sign me up." Caroline said with a smile,
"Great, we leave in one hour, meet in the hangar bay then." Sophia said,
"Alright." Caroline said as Sophia walks off. Caroline heads to the kitchen to quickly eat lunch. She sees Brandy place a plate of sandwiches on the table.
"Hey, I made sandwiches, help yourself." She said with a smile,
"Don't mind if I do." Caroline said grabbing one of them and taking a bite. "This is really good, what is it?"
"Ham and cheese with garlic spread,"
"Did you make the garlic spread?" Caroline asked,
"I did." Brandy said,
"You'll have to give me the recipe so I can give it to my mom, she'll love it." She said finishing eating the sandwich.
"Have you talked to you mom recently?" Brandy asked,
"Yeah, I was on the phone with her last night. She's worried, especially with all the stuff their saying on the news about Sonic." Caroline frowns, "What about your parents? How are they?"
"They're still abroad so they have barely noticed," Brandy said looking away with a sad look,
"I know they love you, and that's what counts." Caroline said placing her hand on Brandy's shoulder.
"Thanks Caroline." She smiles, "I'm going to take these around to see if anyone else is hungry."
"Let me help," Caroline said,
"Okay, can you take one to TK, I don't think she came to breakfast."
"In that case, I'll take her two." She said grabbing an empty plate and a can of soda from the fridge. She places two sandwiches on the plate and heads towards the hangar bay. TK seemed to be working on something.
"Oh hi, I didn't see you there." TK said putting her tools down,
"Brandy made sandwiches, so I brought you some." She said placing them in front of her.
"Thanks but I'm not hungry." She said as Caroline crosses her arms and glares at her.
"You didn't come to breakfast… which means you haven't had anything to eat all day and I'm not leaving until you start eating that sandwich." She demanded, TK gives a frightened look as she grabs one of the sandwiches and takes a bite.
"There… happy?" She pouted,
"That better be finished by the time I get back or else." She said,
"By the time you get back? Where are you going?" TK asked looking confused,
"Sophia asked me to join Team Dark on a mission to Eggman's underwater base to look for clues." Caroline explained,
"Hopefully, you can find something helpful… I'm still struggling to figure out a way to contain Dark Sonic." TK said with a sigh. "Just make sure to be careful."
"I'll stay with Sophia, I'll see you when I get back." Caroline said walking away and meeting up with Sophia at the entrance,
"All ready to go?" Sophia asked,
"Yes, oh! Did you get one of Brandy's sandwiches?" Caroline asked,
"I grabbed one on my way here, it was really good." She said,
"Wonderful! Let's get going." Caroline said as they transform and head to the docks where Agent Rogue and Agent Omega were waiting for them.
"Have you two been waiting long?" Shadow asked,
"No, we just go here." Rogue said, "You must be Cream, nice to meet you in person."
"Nice to meet you." Cream smiles,
"Shadow talks about you and your friends all the time, must have left a good impression." She winks as Shadow blushes,
"A…Anyway… we can head out after one last thing." Shadow said holding her hand out to Omega, "Give them to me."
"Give what?" Omega asked,
"You know what, the explosives you're hiding in your pockets." Shadow said as he frowns.
"But…"
"No you pyromaniac! We're going to an underwater base. One wrong explosion and we drown!" Rogue said as he sulks and hands Shadow a small explosive.
"And the grenades," Shadow said as he hands her four grenades, "Any compact C4?" She asked as he pulls six out of his pickets.
"Where was he carrying those?" Rogue asked looking horrified she turns to Cream who just shrugs. Shadow lets out a sigh and hands him back two of the compact C4.
"You keep two, but they are for emergencies only!" she said,
"You're no fun…" Omega said looking defeated,
"I'd rather she be no fun and alive then risk your crazy shenanigans." Rogue said as Cream giggles,
"Now we're ready to go." Shadow said as they climb into the submarine and begin their decent towards the base.
"What do we do if Eggman and Saya are still down there?" Cream asked,
"Robotnik wouldn't be dumb enough to stay in a hideout that we knew about. And if he is then we'll fight our way through," Shadow said,
"Sounds dangerous." Cream said,
"That's why you're here Hun, to make sure we're not ambushed. Besides we're here to protect you so there's nothing to fear." Rogue said,
"Okay…" Cream said as she looks out the window to see the underwater base. It sent chills down her spine as she remembered what happened last time they were here. Fear starts to overwhelm her Omega walks over noticing her panicking and places his hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be alright." He said trying to help calm her down,
"Thank you." Cream said,
"We're in," Rogue said as she docks the Submarine and they head inside.
"It doesn't seem like anyone is here." Omega said,
"Hear anything Hun?" Rogue asked Cream,
"No, just the sound of the water against the outer walls." She said,
"Keep your guard up, there could be trip alarms." Shadow said as they begin to sneak around but it was silent and abandoned, there wasn't a Swatbot in sight. They get to the second floor where they had their first encounter with Dark Sonic and continue down the hallway Knuckles went down to search for Saya until they eventually make it to a hole in the ceiling above them,
"What happened here?" Rogue asked,
"Our friend had to break through to get to Sonic. Eggman kept her hidden." Shadow said as Cream helps fly up with Rogue and Shadow warps her and Omega up to that floor.
"He's a terrible person…" Cram said,
"Agreed, not lets search for Robotnik's lab, it must be nearby." Shadow said looking around,
"I think I found it." Omega said,
"What makes you sure?" Rogue asked,
"The doors broken off." He pointed at the door that was completely broken and bent in. They look inside, fear struck Cream as they saw a lab table in the middle of the room. She fought back tears as Rogue walks up to the computer looking at the console.
"Darn, it looks like he pulled the hard drive. I'm going to check to see if he kept a backup." She said as Omega and Shadow started looking around the room.
"Keep an eye out for anything." Shadow said,
"I found some syringes," Omega said as Shadow walks over to him,
"He was experimenting on her?" Shadow said,
"I… I need a moment." Cream said running out of the room unable to hold back the tears any longer. She tried not to think about it but the thoughts of what Eggman might have done to Saya overtook her mind. She just wanted to cry but she took deep breaths to try and calm down as a light from another room caught her eye. She goes towards the door and looks inside. It looked like hanging from one of the walls was a robot, but it was too small to be a Swatbot. She entered the room to get a closer look as she instantly recognizes it. It was a half-finished Metal Sonic and the chest piece was flickering.
"Cream! Where are you?" Shadow yelled sounding panicked running out of the lab looking for her,
"H…Here!" She calls out as Shadow bursts into the room,
"You can't just go off on your own its…" She flips on the light switch and gets a full view of the room, "Dangerous," Her eyes widen as she walks up next to Cream,
"He tried to build Metal Sonic…" Cream said,
"With how far off it is it looks like he almost completed it." Shadow said going through a pile of papers in a desk next to Metal Sonic, Cream follows her still keeping an eye on Metal Sonic fearing that it might move. "These say he was trying to copy Sonic by using her blood, but it didn't work… he was trying to figure out how her speed worked to build Metal Sonic. He trashed it, saying he doesn't need a replica when he has control over the real thing." She crumples up the paper in her hand, "I'll kill him…" Cream could tell that Shadows rage was beginning to overwhelm her.
"We can't leave it here…" Cream said grabbing her hand,
"You're right," She said snapping out of it, "It needs to be destroyed, if this was ever finished, we'd be in a lot of trouble." She pulls out one of the packs of C4 and places it on Metal Sonics chest piece. "I've set it to go off in one hour, if we're lucky the explosion will take this whole place out as well."
"Okay…" Cream said as Shadow walks out of the room and she follows,
"We're leaving," Shadow said on the head set at Rogue and Omega meet up with them.
"Sorry, I couldn't get anything from the computers," Rogue said looking defeated,
"Does this mean I can blow something up?" Omega asked as Shadow hands him back all of his explosives.
"Set them on a timer so we have enough time to get out of here." She said,
"Yes boss!" He said with a smile as he runs off while they start heading back to the Submarine. Cream couldn't get Metal Sonic out of her head; she only saw him twice in her past life. First when he attacked her and Amy when they were protecting a Chaos Emerald… that was also when she first met Shadow. The other time she saw Metal Sonic was when he was on TV in a race with…
"Shadow!" Cream yells as both her and Rogue jump,
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Shadow said flustered that she freaked out,
"I know how we can get Sonic back!"