Chapter Four – Enlightenment
G.U.N. absolutely panicked. Their powerhouses were down, and Frank was well aware of just much energy it took to take out Shadow The Hedgehog. They all saw what happened, but no one understood it. But the Hedgehogs had bought them some time. Enough for the G.U.N. operatives, including Rouge, to run in, grab them and get out, as quickly as they could. They all ran for their lives, from the building and out into the night. By the time the Syndicate had realised what happened, G.U.N. were long gone.
But they truly feared for Sonic and Shadow. It was only when they got them safely back to G.U.N. headquarters and their Sickbay, did they finally realisethat, unbelievably, both Hedgehogs were still alive. The doctors checked them over. Both appeared to be fine. Amazing considering what happened and the fact that Sonic took a bomb to the face. But he had nothing more then a few cuts and bruises. Unfortunately, nobody as able to wake either Hedgehog, and Rouge was left tasked to watch over them.
Because of Sonic and Shadow, the mission against the Syndicate has been a complete success, as Rouge handed the hard drive over to G.U.N.. It was damming. The ringleader information was indeed on there. The ringleaders of the Syndicate almost ran all the way to the top of the Mobian Authorities, and even included some senior figures in G.U.N. itself. They were less then impressed that they had had survived the mission against the Syndicate. But as Frank pointed out, never underestimated a Hedgehog. Frank and his team owed them their lives, and as the days, turned into weeks, turned into months, there was still no change. Both Hedgehogs were still out cold.
But G.U.N. didn't stop as they proceeded to completely take out the Syndicate. Rouge wasn't involved. With the information from the hard drive she stole, they confiscated all the gun shipments, completely stopped the supply chain, arrested everyone involved, released all the prisoners they'd captured, and finally got the guns off the streets. They won.
The Syndicate was no more.
Frank was back in their headquarters, the memories of what happened here still very raw. He was there with a team of G.U.N. operatives doing a clean up job. But he was really there on a more personal matter. What happened to his best guys? Sonic and Shadow. He was in the main security room of the building, trawling through the CCTV footage of the foyer and entrance area. It had been three months since that fateful day, and still nothing from them. Back through the days he trawled, until he finally found the night in question.
Rewatching Sonic do his sword magic against those machine guns, was as impressive now to watch as it was back then, and seeing the two Hedgehogs move in such perfect synchrony was stunning too. There was something going on between those two. You don't get that good working together by accident. There was years of comradery and teamwork there. He frowned. Shadow didn't really do friends, but that was exactly what Frank was looking at here. Almost like brothers.
The Bear smirked. They did look alike, they may as well be brothers, despite they fact that they definitely not related. It was one of the first things G.U.N. tested for behind Sonic's back when Shadow first showed up. G.U.N. had desperately wanted Sonic on board for years, and to finally have the Blue Blur in their mists was incredible. He didn't disappoint, especially opposite Shadow. But they used to hate each other. What turned it around? Frank sighed. He had no idea. He was just grateful it did. He continued watching the footage. Then came the explosion.
He gulped. He saw the Blue Blur being thrown backwards, something obviously happening to him before he completely passes right through Shadow. Frank stared. He did remember correctly what happened but how? That was when the Bear realised that he was way out of his league and desperately needed help from someone who knew the Blue Blur better then anyone.
Tails.
The Fox was absolutely stunned to get a personal invitation to G.U.N. headquarters, plus full security clearance. Rouge personally went to go and collect him. He was incredibly excited until he saw something had happened to Sonic and Shadow. When he saw Sonic lying in the bed, in the Sickbay, next to Shadow who was also still out cold. Tears ran down his face.
"What happened?" He asked. Both Rouge and Frank looked at other. The Bear sighed.
"We don't know." He said truthfully. "It's why your here." He shrugged. Tails stared.
"What do you mean?" He stammered. Frank sighed himself.
"I think you'd better follow me." He remarked, and left the Sickbay, having both the Fox and Rouge directly behind him. He took them to a computer monitoring room, where he asked a G.U.N. operative to show Tails the footage. The Fox was stunned at the teamwork between Sonic and Shadow. But he spotted something.
"Hey, wait." He spat. The footage stopping and everyone looked at the Fox. He turned to Frank, pointing to the G.U.N. operative. "May I?" He asked, wanting to take over.
The Bear nodded and the G.U.N. operative moved aside. Tails climbed into the chair and immediately began writing code on the computer. Several people looked worried, but Frank raised his hand to calm them. He'd heard of the Fox's reputation. They were in no danger. After about ten minutes, the Fox looked up having complied the code and ran it. He smiled.
"Got it." He said, happily, but seeing confused faces, he explained. "I've successfully written a code that will slow down the footage by a thousand times and give a smooth output." He grinned. Everyone was stunned. "This is Sonic we're talking out. I have to do with every piece of footage I get of him. Otherwise you can't see anything. He's just too fast." He giggled. Tails ran the footage again, and this time it was much slower, put perfectly smooth. The Fox's eyes widened.
"Whoa!" He exclaimed. "I knew Sonic was good with a sword, but not that good. He doesn't know I know, but then again, he's rubbish at keeping a secret. I used to hear him practicing in his bedroom at my house. So I went to look, and found the Samurai swords. I didn't think he was into that kind of stuff until I heard that he'd been in the circus before I met him and they'd taught him knife throwing. On top of his speed, it totally made sense." He giggled. Silence reacted to the Fox's story. Now the footage showed Shadow joining in the party. Tails gasped
"Wow, look at them both." He heaved, as he saw Shadow perfectly firing his guns right in between the sword movements. Slowed down you could really see the teamwork involved, and Tails wasn't surprised in the slightest that they won the fight. But then seeing Shadow murder the Syndicate boss in cold blood, stunned him. It was shocking, but so was seeing Sonic take a bomb to the face.
He gulped, but then stared, confused, leaning in close to the computer screen. He then leant back and did further tapping the computer keyboard, writing another code. It was to slow the footage down even further. It was a slow as Tails dared without loosing clarity. The new code zoomed in on Sonic at the point the bomb explodes. He frowned.
"I thought so. It looks like the explosion didn't injury him badly but he looses control of his Super-Speed. It's exploding his power. There's the Static Electricity." He said, pointing. "Sonic told me about that when it first showed up, he was rather panicky." He smirked. There was a pause, as the footage moved on. "Wait, is that Molecular Vibration?" He gasped. "He told me he'd been practicing that. It's the ability to vibrate your body so fast that you can pass though solid objects, like walls." He explained. Frank swore, cutting across the Fox.
"So that how he got into the G.U.N. headquarters." He growled, but he was then cut across himself, by Tails swearing loudly, putting his hand over his mouth. The footage then showed Sonic exploding into the translucent ghost-like state. White and see-through and passing straight through Shadow. In this slow speed, it was actually very gruesome and shocking to watch. Tails was panting.
"Intangibility." He gasped, in utter disbelieve. Everyone looked at him. Frank stared.
"What?" He asked. Tails, still panting, quickly pulled himself together to explain.
"Intangibility." He said again. "If you think Molecular Vibration is good, then Intangibility is that, but to the extreme. It is the ability to take on a translucent or ghost-like state in which you can pass or faze easily through physical objects such as floors, walls and doors, gunfire and explosion and even float through the air." He said. "Or at least, in theory." He sighed. "He truly is the King of Speed." He said, incredibly proudly. Frank sighed. He agreed, they all did, but he turned to the Fox.
"But what about Shadow?" He asked. The Fox rewatched the footage again. He frowned.
"I suspect that having Sonic pass though him must have dumped a huge about of Chaos Energy on him, and it just completely overwhelmed him." He sighed. "Though I am surprised he's not awake by now." He said, noticing the time stamp on the footage. Then he moved the zoom in the footage on to Shadow and noticed something appear on both his hands as he fell to the floor. Strange markings. But to Tails, not that strange, as he immediately recognised them. If true, would instantly change everything. He gasped, in utter horror, and immediately ran from the chair, straight back the Sick Bay. He stood next to Shadow, staring at him. He was still out cold, his entire body except his head, under the bed covers.
Rouge and Frank finally caught up with him. Rouge was panting.
"What going on?" She asked. But Tails was shaking, not daring to get any closer to the mighty Black Hedgehog. He pointed to him.
"His hands." He stammered, absolutely terrified. They both looked at Rouge, who looked back at Frank complaining. But he nodded, insisting she'd do it. She gulped. Shadow was infamous for not liking to be touched, and had even killed people over it. Even unconscious, it terrified her. Taking a deep breath, holding her nerve, she moved to the side of his bed, lifted up the covers, and very quickly pulled out his hand. She then moved to the other side of the bed, and did the same with the other one. Thankfully, he didn't move.
But there they were, as clear as day, the strange markings on his the back and front of his hands. Each of his hands now had jet black circles with lines sticking out of the bottom leading to his golden Chaos Inhibitors on his wrists. Tails was stunned.
"I've seen those symbols before." He gasped. "Except they're cyan, not black." He explained, looking at Rouge, who finally put two and two together. She too gasped.
"Silver!" She squealed. But Frank frowned. He'd heard of whom they were talking about.
"What, the Psychic Hedgehog?" He asked. Both of them nodded. Tails gulped.
"I think Sonic passing though Shadow unlocked something deep inside of him. If it is a psychic Chaos Power, which I suspect it might be, then it would explain why Shadow hasn't woken up yet." He stammered. Now it was Frank's turn to panic.
"Wait. What? That would make Shadow ruthlessly powerful." He stuttered. Both Tails and Rouge nodded. Now they were all very frightened indeed.
A few days later, joy erupted all over the G.U.N. headquarters, as finally one of the Hedgehog's began to come too. It was Sonic. He woke up with both Tails and Rouge either side of him, very confused indeed. He had no idea where he was, and had very little memory of past events. Tails explained in detail what happened to him. Sonic struggled to believe him, until he saw Shadow in the bed next to him. He gulped. He felt so guilty. But it wasn't his fault, he had no control over the accident. He was ordered to rest. He had just woken up from a three month coma, but that wasn't going to happen. Tails giggled, when, within hours of him coming to, he was bouncing all over the Sickbay driving everyone mad, his Super-spin ball ping ponging around the room like a pinball, Static Electricity going everywhere.
Tails was ordered to grab him and calm him, which he successfully did, getting him back on his bed. He's brought him his cherry red shoes with the red stripes from home, and Sonic changed back into them, out of the black ones. But he was so super hyperactive, but before Tails could do anything, his emotions got the better of him, and he suddenly exploded in the ghost-like appearance of Intangibility, and to his utter terror, he fazed straight through the bed, landing with a thump beneath it. It was both funny and shocking at the same time, especially when Sonic stuck his head from beneath the bed, looking very confused.
"Hi?" He said, to a very giggly Tails. The Fox grinned.
"Hi." He replied. "Er. I think we're gonna have to work on that. Now do you believe me." He sighed. Sonic got from under the bed, and got back on it. He nodded, but he also looked frightened. What got to him, was how easy it was, this new power. The Molecular Vibration took so much concentration. He was scared.
"Tails. What's happening to me? I acquire two new powers in as many days, one of which knocks me out for three months." He stammered. But Tails frowned.
"I don't think it was the power itself that knocked you out. You just done Intangibility now with no after effects. I think it was the shock of the bomb exploding with the passing through of Shadow that knocked you out." Tails shrugged. Sonic frowned. The memories were slowly becoming clearer. He suspected the Fox was right.
But as they were talking, something was happening next to them. Shadow himself was slowing coming too. Still with his eyes closed, his head was throbbing, but it felt very different. What had happened to him? He remembered Sonic passing through him. How? It was excruciatingly painful, as he felt something change in his body, or more specifically his head. It felt enlightened. The huge amount of Chaos Energy from Sonic passing through him had triggered something in his mind. Removing all the chemical locks that were there. He frowned both stunned and confused. He had no idea they were even there. He couldn't feel them. It wasn't there to lock away his memories, he'd recovered all of those years ago. But it had expanded his mind to its full potential and it was obvious that Gerard Robotnik, his creator, had imprisoned something there. Why?
Shadow could feel something in his expanded mind. It had an air of familiarity about it. He frowned, instantly recognising it. A possible Chaos Power. It made sense considering he was the King of Chaos, but still if it was true, he'd be ruthlessly powerful. Maybe that was why the power was locked away. Gerard fearing he'd be just too powerful. Shadow smirked.
'Too late Human.' He spat, inside his head, as his evil side got the better of him, as he dived for these new powers. But he completely underestimated them, as instead they took total control of him, rather them the other way round. Unable to do anything, he found himself bolting upright, his eyes wide open, them glowing complete a deep blood red, no pupils, completely blank and bright scarlet auras exploding from his hands. He wasn't used to a psychic Chaos Power and he completely lost control. Immediately, his red auras grabbed the contents of the Sickbay and started flying it around the room. Tails screamed.
"Psychokinesis!" He squealed. But Sonic, dodging the flying debris, wasn't convinced. He panted.
"No." He spat. He'd seen Silver's Psychokinesis. In fact, he knew it quite well. This wasn't that. Silver could not only move objects with his mind, but he could heavily manipulate them too. He could rip objects to pieces, pull buildings apart, punch holes in walls, crush cars and other vehicles, create force-fields, hover and fly, and stop bullets and explosions. What he was witnessing here, was just basic Telekinesis. The ability to move objects from one place to another and that was it. Shadow was unable to manipulate them or himself in any way. Telekinesis specialised in more delicate work then Psychokinesis, such as the tapping a keyboard on a computer, unlocking doors or driving cars. The fact that Shadow was able to do it at all was incredible, and as Sonic quickly saw, he wasn't the one in control either. He ran in front of Shadow.
"Tails." He called. "It's Telekinesis. He can just move objects with his mind and that's it." He explained. But as the objects were starting to be thrown, Tails screamed diving for cover.
"Sonic, do something." He yelled. Sonic looked around. All eyes were on him. He had to calm the mighty Black Hedgehog down and now. Lives were at stake if he didn't. Sonic stared into Shadow's eyes. The deep blank glowing definitely told him that Shadow was not behind those eyes. The Telekinesis had the control, not him. Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Shads, wake up!" He spat and that immediately got Shadow's attention. "Come on, Shads. The Chaos Power has got the control, not you. Your better then this." He stammered, as Shadow just stared at him. Sonic huffed. "Come on." He spat again. "Do you honestly think the King of Chaos would stand for this?" He jibbed. Suddenly, Shadow grabbed his head, screwing up his eyes. There was one singlular answer to that question. No. He was the King of Chaos, and he was always in charge. He'd heard Sonic and was now fighting back and hard. No Chaos Power in the universe was going to control him.
The Telekinesis was strange as hell, and incredibly wild but Shadow used his formidable will against it, and with Sonic's encouragements, finally took back the control. He opened his eyes, they were still glowing red, but the pupils and darkness were back. He saw Sonic almost next to him, very nervously holding out his hand, shaking. Shadow stared at it. He knew what he meant and he was not offended at all by it. It was meant as a gesture of friendship. Was he still with him? Considering that it was Sonic's loyalty that helped eventually brake him from his mind-control, he at least, owned him this.
Struggling, shaking himself as he only barely had it, he reached out and touched Sonic's fingers. Yes, he was with him. Sonic heaved in pure relief, as the whole of G.U.N. stood down.
"Welcome back, Shads." He praised. Shadow nodded but Sonic could see the struggle in his eyes. Frank moved up next to Sonic.
"Report." He spat, making him jump. In fact, Sonic jumped so much that it caused the Static Electricity to explode, causing everyone at G.U.N. to duck for a second time. The bright blue sparks unexpectedly zapping him rather painfully. They normally nowadays didn't hurt, but he was caught off his guard. He growled.
"Don't do that." He spat, to Shadow's mild amusement but then remembering what he was asked he immediately told Frank what was going on, still nervous as hell. "Er. He has the control, sir, but barely. The Telekinesis had completely overwhelmed him." He stammered. Shadow cocked his head to the side, holding very still. It helped him stay in charge. Telekinesis. So that's what it was. He was gobsmacked. Shadow could see this power becoming incredibly useful if he could just get his head round it, which right now, was very painful. Frank sighed.
"Can you keep him on side?" He asked, nervous himself. Sonic looked back at Shadow. The Black Hedgehog looked back and their eyes met. The Blue Blur smiled.
"Yes, I can, sir." He grinned. Shadow rolled his eyes, or as best he could behind the Telekinesis. Nobody controlled him, least of all, Sonic The Hedgehog. He was doing this by choice. But right now, he needed his loyalty to get though this, and when Shadow finally got his voice back, he made the Blue Blur promise to always reign him in if needed.
Shadow growled. He'd always felt that he was being held back, and now knew why. He was very grateful to Sonic, even if it was an accident. But he truly was the King of Chaos. No one on Mobius had such a vast array of Chaos Powers as Shadow. But he had to admit, right there and then, he needed him. Sonic helped him focus on mastering the Telekinesis, without the power going straight to his head again. He kept him on the right side, where he could fulfill his promise to Maria. He'd learned a long time ago, he couldn't do it alone. As annoying as the Blue Hedgehog was, somehow, Shadow had no idea how, he could get through to him, when needed, whereas no one else could. Subtly give the mighty Black Hedgehog the limits he so desperately needed. This was new territory for both of them.