Chapter 48
Caroline, Alan, and Brandy were hiking with Hope trying to find a nice spot for the Chao Garden, they finally discover a small spring and look around, "How's this Caroline?" Alan asked,
"What do you think Hope?" She asked as Hope flew around and then came back to her and smiled,
"Chao!"
"It's perfect!" Caroline said,
"And it's pretty far out so people shouldn't stumble onto it since it's on military property." Brandy said, as her phone starts ringing, "Hang on, it's Elias."
"Glad this spot isn't too far from the base." Alan said.
"They did what?" Brandy said as they both turn to see her facepalming. "Alright we'll start heading back." She hangs up the phone, "Apparently, Kolt, Saya and TK decided to go check something out on their own."
"Why would they do that?" Caroline said,
"Kolt's been acting weird and Saya might be acting out since Sophia's ignoring her…" Alan said as they both look at him surprised, "What? Did you think I didn't know?"
"We're just a little surprised, we didn't think anyone else noticed it." Caroline said as Hope flies and lands on her head,
"You forget since I used to be Amy, I still have fabulous intuition when it comes to love." He said jokingly as they all laugh and start heading back.
"Is that why you went on that date with Saya?" Brandy asked,
"Part of it was to let her know how I really felt and get some closure, the other half was to get back at Sophia for how she's been acting around Saya."
"That's just mean." Caroline said,
"It's what she deserves for taking my Sonic from me." He jokes again as they all laugh and head back towards the base.
Saya, TK and Kolt get to the college and walk towards Professor Ivo's office. There were very few people at the campus since it was summertime and it seemed they were able to walk around unnoticed. "So this is where you went to school." Saya said looking around,
"That's right, you weren't here." TK said as she shakes her head,
"Yeah, I was a bit busy being tortured." Saya said jokingly,
"There it is," He said as they walk up,
"It's probably locked, how will we get in?" TK asked,
"Professor Ivo has a hidden key." Kolt picks up a fake rock with a hidden compartment as a key drops out.
"Cool," Saya said as Kolt unlocks the door and they walk inside and close the door behind them. "Now if I were a hidden message for a student to find where would I be?"
"His rock collection." Kolt said moving over to a side table covered in rocks. They all start moving them around as TK picks one up and it feels lighter than she was expecting. She shakes it and heard rattling inside.
"I think this is another fake rock." TK said moving the rock around as another key falls out.
"Your professor likes hiding stuff." Saya said,
"He loved puzzles, one of the things he enjoyed doing was geocaching." Kolt said,
"What's that?" TK asked,
"You place a spot in a GPS by latitude and longitude. And at that location you'll find something. Usually a hidden box of notes from previous people who found the cache or small things." He explained,
"Do you think he's trying to lead you to one of these geocaches?" Saya asked,
"Maybe… We should figure what this key goes to first." Kolt said as they look around,
"What about this desk drawer?" TK asked as Kolt walks over and tried is and it unlocks,
"Great find bud." Saya said as they watch as he opens the drawer half expecting something to blow up in their faces but there was just a note. "Well that's a bit anticlimactic I was expecting something to explode in our face." She said as Kolt grabs the note and starts reading it out loud.
"If you're reading this then I've been fighting for control… I'm not sure how long it's been but I don't know how much longer I have before I fade away…" Kolt pauses as Saya puts her hand on his shoulder, she could tell this was hard for him. Even if a part of her still doesn't believe this is real. "I have left two pieces of the formula in separate locations so that he could not get a hold of it. Combined, the formula should be enough to break me free. The first location appears to be a geocache location. It says the other is hidden in a place very dear to me and one only few know about." He stops,
"A formula that could free him?" TK said,
"Maybe he really is fighting…" Saya said, another part of her wanted to believe that he was fighting for control like she was within the Dark Chaos,
"We need to find those two formulas." Kolt said walking towards the door,
"Wait, maybe we can divide and concur." Saya said pressing her earpiece, "Hey Elias we found a clue. It looks like Professor Ivo might have created a way to free himself from Eggman. But he hid the formula in two different locations. Do you think you can have the others check it out?"
"Sophia just got back as well as the others, what's the location?" Elias asked as Saya holds out her hand as Kolt gives her the paper. She gives him the Geocache location, "Got it, I'll have them connect by radio."
"Cool, we'll start heading to the other location." Saya said,
"But we don't know the other location…" TK said,
"I bet Kolt does." She said looking at him,
"I do… it's the old quarry mill. When I was really struggling at school, he took me there to help me get away from it all. The stones glow at nighttime." Kolt explained, "He said it's his favorite place because it shows how magical the earth can be."
"That's way past cool." Saya said, "Let's get going!" she said as they head out to the Quarry mill.
Sophia heads straight to the computer room per Elias' request to see the others waiting for her. "Where are the other three?" Sophia asked,
"They are already out heading to the other location." Elias said,
"Just the three of them?" Sophia said,
"They were going whether I wanted them to or not. Besides, they actually found a clue. Apparently, Professor Ivo may have found a way to break free of Dr. Eggman and hid the formula in two different locations. Saya and the others are heading to the old Quarry Mill, while the rest of you search at this location for a Geocache that he hid." Elias explained,
"Why the hell would you even humor this?" Sophia asked angrily,
"Because Professor Ivo is also a victim. And if we save him, we might rid this world of Eggman once and for all." Elias said,
"Would that really be possible?" Caroline asked,
"TK said it best… wherever there's Sonic, there will always be Eggman." Brandy said, "But it can't hurt to try."
"Fine, we'll take a helicopter over there." Sophia said sounding annoyed, "Let's go, I want this over with,
"What's up with you?" Alan asked,
"I'm tired and this was not how I wanted to end my day." She said as they follow her to the hangar bay.
"Looks like you can land there!" Saya points out to TK as she lands the plane, near the Quarry Mill.
"We should probably transform just in case." TK said,
"Good idea." Kolt said as they all transform. "As much as I want this all to be true it's better safe than sorry." They walk over to the side of the quarry,
"Now let's try this again, where do you think he'd hide it?" Sonic asked Knuckles as he looks around.
"I'm not sure, it could be…" Knuckles sees something glimmer inside of the rocks "Wait, I think I see something." He said pointing down as they look,
"That shiny thing?" Tails asked as Knuckles starts sliding down towards it, "Knuckles wait!" She and Sonic slide down after him.
"Take it easy man, we gotta be careful." Sonic said,
"Sorry." He said picking up the small piece of scrap metal from the ground and tossing it aside. "There's got to be something here."
"Let's hope it's not in one of those fake rocks or we'll be here forever." Sonic said with a sigh as they all walk around.
"I'm going to try and get a view from the sky." Tails said flying up,
"Good idea." Sonic said giving her a thumbs up.
"Anything?" Knuckles asked,
"It looks like an area over there was dug up more recently." She said pointing to the left of them, they both walk towards the spot and start looking around.
"Still not seeing anything, maybe some passerby nabbed it?" Sonic said.
"Wait there's something here, it looks like a small box." Knuckles said walking towards it, he goes to reach for it and the ground beneath them begins to shake.
Shadow, Blaze, Cream and Amy arrive near the geocache site as Shadow is using a small device to track its location. "This guy went out of his way to hide this." Amy said,
"If it was Professor Ivo." Blaze said,
"I still can't believe that they thought going on this little trip was a good idea…" Shadow said, "It's obviously a trap,"
"Well it's not like you've been around to stop Saya from doing stuff like this." Alan said, as Shadow pauses and slowly turns around,
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Shadow asked,
"You have been a little distant." Cream said sounding sad,
"Especially around Saya." Blaze said crossing her arm and giving her an eyebrow raise.
"I've had a lot on my mind, keeping busy distracts from the headaches." She said pressing her temple.
"Have you talked to Dr. Q?" Cream asked,
"No, it's just cuz I haven't been sleeping." Shadow said,
"Why?" Amy asked,
"You can ask questions later, let's just prove this is a trap and head back." She said dodging the question and continuing forward. They get to the location and start looking around, "Geocaches are usually small boxes that are waterproof." She said,
"Oh! I see it!" Cream said pointing it out,
"I'll grab it." Shadow said walking up to it as her head begins to throb, "No, not now…" The ground beneath them shakes,
"Maybe you were right about this being a trap…" Alan said,
The Ground beneath Knuckles and Sonic continues to shake, the dirt begins to shift as Knuckles falls into a sink pit, "Knuckles!" Sonic was losing her footing as the ground started to rise up. Tails flies over and grabs her hands pulling her off the ground,
"I got you!" Tails said as the ground reveals a massive robot standing up.
"Man! I was really hoping it wouldn't be a trap." Sonic sighs as the robot finishes standing revealing Knuckles in the center of the glass stomach.
"Sonic he's in there!" Tails points out,
"Hey Knux! You okay?" Sonic called out as the robot started moving. They see him stumble to his feet. He could hear them, but the sound was muffled,
"I'm fine, stay back I'm going to punch my way out." He said walking towards the glass. Four metal pillars pop out of the floor and begin to pulsate a gold light creating a large ring that gets pulled into the middle forcing Knuckles back into the center.
"I recognize that! Eggman trapped me once to use me as a living battery while I was in my super form." Sonic said as the fly after the robot.
"Eggman must be using it to keep Knuckles from breaking free." Tails said,
"So that things meant to contain Knuckles. Huh?" Sonic said,
"What do we do Sonic?" Tails asked,
"Can you fly us to the top? I can cover you while you attempt to disable it." She said as Tails nods,
"We should warn the others." Tails said flying over to catch up to the robot that was walking away with Knuckles.
"Hey guys! Do you read me?" They hear Sonic's voice over their headsets,
"We hear you Sonic…" Blaze said taking a battle stance,
"Don't go after the Geocache, it's a trap! There's a huge robot hiding underground right beneath it." Sonic said,
"You're a little late…" Amy said getting out his hammer.
"Crap, I was hoping you didn't trigger it yet. Knuckles got trapped so we're trying to save him." She said as the robot finishes standing. "How long do you think it'll be before you can finish it off and come meet up with us?"
"That's going to be a problem…" Blaze said,
"What? Why? You guys have Shadow with you." Tails said,
"The robot has Shadow…" Cream said as they see Shadow restrained in the same way Knuckles is.
"What do we do?" Amy asked,
"It's too large I can't easily melt it." Blaze said.
"Why don't we try to get in from the top?" Cream pointed,
"Good idea Cream, you help get Amy to the top while I keep it distracted." Blaze said as they all nod. The ground shakes for a moment as the robot starts walking away from them. Cream grabs Amy's hand and begins flying him towards the head while Blaze runs up trying to keep the bot's attention.
"Oh, ho, ho!" Both Knuckles and Shadow can hear inside the robot as they struggle trying to get free.
"Eggman!" Knuckles yelled, "So it was all a trick."
"Of course it was you gullible buffoon! I worked ridiculously hard to put this little treasure hunt together for you. And it worked perfectly! I even got myself a Shadow as a consolation prize." He laughs,
"Not for long, Chaos…" She began to say as a small nozzle pops out of the ceiling and sprays her in the face causing her to cough, choking on the strange gas breaking her concentration.
"Now. Now Shadow. I can't have you warping free so easily. Especially while your friends are trying so hard to rescue you." Eggman said,
"Bastard…" She said still coughing,
"Let her go Eggman, it's me you're after." Knuckles said,
"Oh but there's so many experiments I can perform on this new Ultimate Lifeform. For an example, are you still the Ultimate Lifeform in this new form?" Eggman laughs,
Sonic and Tails finally land on top of the robot. With each footstep the robot shakes making it hard for them to keep their balance, "Alright Tails, we're on our own. What do you need me to do?" Sonic asked,
"Just make sure I don't get hit." She said pulling out a screwdriver and removing screws.
"On it. I'll see if I can distract Egghead while I'm at it." She said going up to the face and standing in front of it. "Hey Egghead! Miss me?" She blocked the robots view as it stops moving.
"I was wondering where you were Sonic." Eggman said as small lasers pop out from all over the top of the robot. "You won't get in my way this time."
"Of course I will! It's one of the things I'm good at." Sonic said with a smirk, as all of the lasers point at her. She chuckles as she starts destroying them.
"Stay still you little rodent!"
"In your dreams," She said throwing one of the broken ones at the robots face.
"Fine, your friend makes an easier target." He said as the remaining lasers point at Tails,
"No!" Sonic yelled as she holds out her hand, "Chaos Shield!" She said as Tails is protected by her force field and the lasers bounce off.
"Changed the name I see." Eggman said,
"Chaos Sphere was too close to Chaos Spear." Sonic said with a shrug. "Besides, rebranding is never a bad thing."
"How long can you keep it up before your transformation ends?" He said continuing to shoot at the force field,
"Sonic you'll run out of Chaos energy!" Tails said,
"If I can handle saving an entire town from military missiles, I can manage a few tiny lasers." She smiles as she continues to destroy the lasers while maintaining the Chaos Shield,
Cream helps get Amy on top of the robot, but he has trouble keeping his footing as Cream flies next to him trying to make sure he doesn't fall off. "Just need to keep my footing long enough to knock the head off." Amy said,
"Blaze are you doing okay?" Cream called down,
"I'm fine," She said dodging one of the arms,
"How's Shadow doing?" Amy asked,
"She's angry…" Blaze said,
"That's nothing new…" Amy said with a sigh, he starts moving towards the head slowly. The head turns towards them, "Aw crap!"
"It looks like my robots have a rodent infestation." They hear Eggman's voice as lasers pop out,
"Cream get behind me!" Amy yelled trying to reach for Cream as they both get hit with lasers. One hits Cream in the head, and she begins to fall, "No!" Blaze jumps up and quickly catches her and lands in a tree,
"Cream? Are you okay?" Blaze called out. But she didn't respond, "Cream!"
"Looks like it's up to me." Amy said swinging some of the lasers away trying to ignore the pain. But the lasers strike again causing him to lose his footing and fall off.
"I'll kill you!" Shadow yelled with tears in her eyes witnessing Cream and Amy fall not being able to help was worse than getting injured herself.
"You've said that before." Eggman laughs,
"And this time I mean it. I won't let you continue this madness anymore. I don't care who you used to be. The minuet you're in range I won't hesitate to take you down." Shadow said,
"Did you hear that Knuckles?" Eggman said as Shadow looks shocked, she completely forgot that Knuckles could hear her, "It looks like Shadow would kill me without batting an eye." Knuckles says nothing. "You made him speechless," Eggman laughs,
"How's it going buddy?" Sonic asked as she finishes breaking the last laser.
"I think I almost have it." She said grabbing at some wires, she glances over at Sonic noticing one of the lasers grazed her arm. "You okay?"
"Never mind me we gotta save Knuckle head." Sonic said,
"Now, you won't want to do that." Eggman said,
"Uh, yeah, I think we do." Sonic said crossing her arms,
"Your friends have already failed to save Shadow." Eggman said,
"What? You're lying!" Sonic looked shocked turning to Tails as she quickly reaches out over coms,
"Are you guys okay?" Tails asked,
"No… Cream and Alan are down…" Blaze said shakily.
"Sonic…" Tails looks at her not knowing what to do,
"I'll give you an ultimatum Sonic. Let me take Knuckles and I'll give back Shadow. Refuse and I kill her." Sonic froze for a moment feeling a pit in her stomach not knowing what to do. She remembers about the power ring in her pocket as she gets an idea.
"Tails, what direction is the geocache located from here?" Sonic asked her quietly,
"South of here why?"
"Sorry Egghead, I choose option three." Sonic said loudly,
"You'll condemn Shadow to death?" Eggman asked,
"You forget, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, fastest thing alive! And I will always save my friends." She said turning to Tails, "Now!" She said as Tails rips at all of the wires shutting down the robot. They hear glass breaking as Knuckles jumps out of the center.
"What do we do now?" Tails asked,
"Get Knuckles back to the Tornado and meet me at the Geocache site." Sonic said pulling out the power ring. "I won't let him hurt her!" The power ring disperses, and the energy goes through her body as she jumps down to the ground next to Knuckles.
"See you soon." He said as she gives him a thumbs up and in a sonic boom is gone almost causing Knuckles to be thrown back.
"It appears that Sonic doesn't care about you Shadow. She chose Knuckles' life over your own." Eggman said,
"You're lying!" She said as the chamber begins filling with gas as she starts coughing unable to breathe.
"I wish I were, but I gave her a choice. You or Knuckles and she chose Knuckles. Now you will die knowing that she didn't care about you." Shadow couldn't even react as her lungs burned from the gas as she continued to cough starting to lose her vision. "Goodbye, Shadow the Hedgehog."