Chapter Eight – Chased
But it wasn't for long as Eggman wasn't done with them yet, and rapidly went in hot pursuit. Shadow had to keep the throttle of the truck floored just to stay ahead of him. But soon, they were surrounded by Badniks, of which Blaze, with her fire blasts, and Silver, with his Psychokinesis, did their best to take out, leaning out the back of the truck. Tails was crying his eyes out at Knuckles's shoulders and Charlie was cuddling his wife, Amy, for dear life. Rouge was struggling not to get thrown around the back of the truck, as the ride was extremely bumpy. Shadow was still flooring the truck at close to a hundred miles an hour. Sonic was still a no show. Charlie was terrified. He frightened easily but he was also the cousin of the Hero of Mobius, he could be very strong when he needed to be, when he held his nerve. Tails was still crying. The Echidna hugged him close. He sniffed.
"My life's work gone." He moaned. But Knuckles growled.
"I think this is a little excessive for one Chaos Emerald. I know there's always a massive fight when the first one is found in a while, but never this bad." He squealed, and a bomb when off very near the truck, as Shadow turned it down a dirt lane. Charlie looked up, he'd realised something.
"This isn't about the Chaos Emerald. The Mobian Authorities have been paying Eggman to fight you guys, and Shadow's just blown the whistle on them." He stammered. Silence answered him. Amy squealed.
"But the Mobian Authorities are meant to protect us, not pay Eggman to kill us. It's treason." She stammered. Charlie nodded but Knuckles frowned.
"But why?" He asked, very confused. Charlie heaved, gritting his teeth. He could do this, he had the confidence.
"We don't know, but knowing him." He said, indicating Shadow in the driver's seat. "He'll get to the bottom of it." Then he got determined, turning to Tails. "As incredibly annoying as my cousin is, he always got your back, Tails." He smiled. "When Sonic realised that my hand towards Amy was going to be accepted and that I would be joining your group, he asked me, as I am dam good with computers, to back up your entire Workshop. We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to panic." He added. "It's all back at the safe-house. Well, everything except your most recent stuff." He sighed. Tails was both stunned and relieved, but Knuckles cut across him, before he could speak.
"You have a safe-house?" He asked. Charlie rolled his eyes.
"I'm the cousin of Sonic The Hedgehog. Yeah, I have a safe-house. It's very basic, not as fancy as Tails's, and being a relative of the Blue Blur's is a dangerous place to be. I have forgotten the number of times I've ran for my life, growing up." He shrugged. Suddenly, Shadow piped up. He'd been listening to the conversation.
"Where's the safe-house?" He spat. Charlie ran up towards him, falling slightly as Shadow turned down yet another dirt lane. He panted.
"The other side of Westopolis." He stammered. Westopolis was the nearest city to Tails' House, before it burned down. The lights of the city could clearly be seen in the distance. Shadow then violently turned the truck, speeding it towards the city, but tried to go round it, desperately trying to take several roads, but due to Eggman's constant bombardments, he was unsuccessful. He swore, very loudly.
"I can't go around the city, we'll have to go through it." He growled. But Knuckles panicked.
"But that's suicide." He stuttered. But Charlie growled, loosing his temper.
"Oh, come on." He spat. "We have six of the most powerful Chaos Creatures in the world inside this truck, including one immortal. We can do this." He panted. But Amy frowned.
"Er. I only count five." She wondered. Blaze, Silver, Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow. She didn't count herself, in that lineup, as her skills were only enhanced, not quite full-on super. Plus right now, she didn't want to fight. She had her Charlie to protect. But her husband rolled his eyes.
"Shadow didn't train Sonic to respond to a whistle. The guy suggested it to him. When we were kids, when all hell broke loose, I had to contact my cousin somehow." He winked and took a very deep breath. He then proceeded to open his mouth and curl his bottom lip under his top front teeth, as if making a 'f' sound. He then placed his tongue to just behind those teeth, as though making a 'th' sound and together, between the two, he let it rip. The resulting whistle was so loud that all of the Sapients in the truck, put their hands over their ears and Shadow was left swearing, only just keeping control of the vehicle. It heavily swerved, from side to side, but still going at top speed. It was very long and extremely loud whistle and when all was quiet, everyone was stunned. A very rare skill, indeed.
The whistle was so loud that when Shadow jumped, extremely hard, the Chaos Emerald was dislodged out of his quills and went straight out of the trucks open driver's window. The Black Hedgehog was unable to catch it in time. He growled in anger, swearing again hard, as he watched the Chaos Emerald fall away down the road behind him, completely helpless to go after it. Eighteen months without an Chaos Emerald, and went he finally got one, it only got to embrace it for less then an hour. He could manage without, but it was incredibly annoying. He turned and glared at the Chestnut Hedgehog, his eye glowing crimson red. Charlie gulped, terrified.
"Oops! Sorry." He stammered, biting his lip. "I properly should have warned you about that. My whistles are record breaking." He admitted. But there was one thing for certain, the Hero of Mobius definitely heard it. The roar of his Super-Speed was instantly heard in the distance. Sonic immediately came running. In excess of Mach one running. He knew his cousin's whistle anywhere, and knew it he wouldn't call unless he was in trouble. So Sonic grabbed his two Samurai swords, his twin Sai knives, threw them on his back, and in his red and white shoes, went straight after him.
Suddenly everyone screamed, as Shadow was forced by Badniks either side of him, to brake and drift the truck down a side junction of the main road, and ended up on the main three-lane highway heading towards Westopolis. He floored it again. Still going at a hundred miles per hours, but it was badly rattling and Shadow was unsure how long the fuel would last. He did bring the truck to Tails' House with a full tank. Eggman in his Egg Dragoon was still on their tail. Silver and Blaze were doing all they could out the back out the back, but Badniks were appearing as fast as they were destroying them.
Suddenly, Shadow was surrounded by jet black armed vehicles, cars and trucks, all with blacked out windows who suddenly started firing machine guns at them. Shadow swore. He knew exactly who they were. They were Mobian Authorities personal own goons. They were not G.U.N.. They had no symbol on their doors. G.U.N. is a independent worldwide military and law enforcement organization. They were sub-contracted by the Mobian Authorities, they didn't directly work for them. It was for that reason alone that Shadow did. These were the guys who really did all the dirty work for the Mobian Authorities and the Ultimate Lifeform hated them with a passion. They had tried to kill him multiply times, and now it was personal.
This was on top of the fact they were surrounded by Badniks, and still had Egg Dragoon on their tail, firing lasers at them. Shadow was close to panicking, as he floored the truck straight down the highway, all the while avoiding other road users. He again swerved from side to side and desperately tried to stop the truck from barrel-rolling especially at the speeds they were traveling at. The truck, still in top gear, gave everything it had. But Shadow quickly realised that straight line speed was not going to out run these people and he needed to shake them off. Unfortunately. he didn't know Westopolis that well, not to the roadmap level. Not to navigate through its tight, winding, streets of its downtown area, exactly where they were heading.
The teamwork of Silver and Blaze out the back at kept most of the Badniks at bay, but with the Mobian Authorities goons as well, they were getting overwhelmed. Silver had immediately left defending the back of the truck, to concentrate his Psychokinesis on defecting the bullets away from the truck. He was seriously beginning to tire. Suddenly, he arrived. In a sudden array of blinding explosions of pale blue sparks, Sonic arrived out of nowhere. He temporarily blinded the goons and used his Intangibility to faze straight through the side of the truck, to everyone's surprise, as they ducked out of the way. He was growling in anger, but took an quick embrace from Charlie. Sonic's sparks hurt him badly, but he didn't care. He was here, and that was all that mattered. Sonic heaved, finally standing among them.
"So, what the plan?" He panted. Shadow growled, turning hard, the truck skidding at speed.
"Get them off of me." He shouted. He knew that Sonic's life was in danger, but if they didn't through this then all of them would die. It was worth the risk. Sonic smirked, but looked up at Shadow in the driver's seat.
"Not on my own, I'm not." He spat. It wasn't the case that he couldn't handle them alone, he just knew that together they were far more effective. Shadow immediately caught on. He smirked.
"Someone take the wheel." He hissed. "Shake them off. Twist and turn if you must. I don't know Westopolis that well." He heaved. That was true. He'd been though it several times, but didn't know it's backstreets. Rouge immediately piped up.
"I do." She yelled, over the horrendous noise. She's spend most of her childhood here, and knew it well plus this wasn't the first time she'd taken the wheel of a getaway vehicle. She ran to the driver's seat, and expertly swapped in with Shadow. She continued flooring the truck, causing it to rattle even more. She then called behind her.
"Silver. I need you up here in the cab with me. I'm going to need your Psychokinesis to make some very tight turns." She yelled. "Knuckles, take over from him." She ordered, of which the Red Echidna didn't argue, as he immediately starting punching Badniks out of the sky, next the Blaze's fire blasting, out of the back of the truck. Charlie, Amy, and Tails all cuddled each other on the floor of the truck, everyone very frightened, by safe for now, which left Sonic and Shadow looking at each other. Rouge noticed.
"What about you two?" She asked. Shadow turned to her.
"Don't worry about us. We're going to take them out head on. Get to the safe-house, we'll catch you up." He smirked. She didn't argue. One, she knew how powerful they were, especially together, and two, Sonic knew where the safe-house was. She sighed.
"Go!" She yelled, and suddenly, the two almighty Hedgehogs ran for the back of the truck, the both of then jumped over the heads of Blaze and Knuckles, grabbed hold of the top of the truck, and flipped on the roof outside. A full picture out the back, was absolutely dire. They were surrounds by Eggman's forces, Mobian Authority goons, and members of the public fleeing for their lives. They had be careful here, and only take out the right people. Shadow didn't doubt Sonic in that aspect. They both took a millisecond breather, before grabbing their weapons of choice, and jumping off the back the truck, side-by-side, towards the pursuing enemies, and maybe finding a Chaos Emerald along the way.
It was a nanosecond's snapshot in time, Sonic and Shadow, together, both fighting for a common cause. The right thing. The journey both Hedgehogs had taken to get to here point was staggering but it wasn't over yet, especially not for Sonic. He had a possible fateful death ahead of him, as well as potential immortality. Did that death make him immortal? It didn't make any sense, plus there was still the mystery of why all this chasing was happening.
They both expertly landed on the road, and both immediately went for the Mobian Authority goons. This was nothing for a pair of Hedgehog's used to traveling in excess of Mach one. To land on the road off the back of a truck traveling at a hundred miles an hour was incredibly dangerous, but for two seasoned speed professionals, it was nothing and they both made it look easy. They shocked the oncoming pursuers especially at the sheer speeds these Hedgehogs could deal their damage at. They had to stop the bullets from flying at the truck and fast. Interesting, they had two completely different methods of doing this, however Sonic was having much more luck. The blacked out cars, trucks and vans were all bullet-proof as Shadow's revolvers failed to get through them. However, they were not Intangibility proof as Sonic's fazing in and out of each of the vehicles, at Super-Speed, completely confused everybody.
Shadow saw this and quickly took advantage of it. He also saw that the Chaos Emerald was nowhere to be seen. It seemed as though their pursuers had concentrated so much on chasing them, that they completely failure to notice the giant gemstone, when it fell from the truck. It meant that the Chaos Emerald was still in the city, and not in wrong hands, and sighing with relieve, Shadow knew he could retrieve it later.
Sonic was exploding into his ghost-like translucent state and passing through the sides of each of the vehicles. The level of control was superb, of which he'd solidify on the inside and cause absolute havoc. He'd fight whomever was on the inside, often going for the steering wheel, send the vehicle way off course. Shadow had notice that these vehicles may have been bullet-proof on the top, they were not of the bottom, and several well-place bullets from his revolvers, which ignite the petrol tanks and explode it into the flames.
They were toppling over and over themselves, hitting other vehicles, making the highway extremely hazardous. Shadow didn't care about Sonic. In his Intangibility state, absolutely anything passed or fazed straight through him. It completely unharmed him, including bullets and explosions. He'd just erupted out of the wreaked vehicle and immediately dive for the next one. Suddenly, even more vehicles were tumbling over one another, causing an almighty pile up. Ten to twenty of them smashed into one another, right across the three lane highway. Metal twisting and glass smashing. Sonic checked the wreckage. Thankfully, nobody got seriously hurt beyond who was supposed to. In-between doing all this, Shadow shot down as many Badniks as he could. There were time when the Ultimate Lifeform was absolutely brutal.
Finally, they went for the Egg Dragoon. But Sonic, outright loosing his temper, just went straight for it, pale blue sparks flying everywhere, recklessly fazing straight into Eggman's cockpit. Solidifying the other side, he proceeded to punch the Human right across the face. It was incredibly shocking, especially from Sonic, but the Blur Blue had had enough, and was so angry that he just didn't care anymore. Knocking out the Human, the Egg Dragoon began to fly wildly out of control and hitting the road. It began to topple over and over itself, out of control at speed, forcing Rouge as to swerve out of way, to avoid getting hit. This would nowhere kill Eggman, or destroy the Egg Dragoon, but at least, it got it out of the chase.
Sonic then fazed out of the Egg Dragoon, somersaulting in the process on the the road, and then ran, at speed, right to the back of Rouge's truck and somersaulting again, fazing straight back into it. Blaze and Knuckles standing aside. They too were shocked. Sonic had mastered the Intangibility, and he was absolutely lethal with it. He was heavily growling with anger, on the verge of going full on Dark Sonic. The transformation was just beginning to happen, but Shadow then suddenly appear at back in the truck himself, somersaulting inside. Quickly taking a deep breath, he proceeded to successfully calm Sonic, just as the Blue Blur does for him. Shadow had seen Sonic in full temper before.
There was only one thing in the world more famous then Sonic, and that was his temper. It was infamous. He would transform, into version of himself, where his own evil within him ruled. Dark Sonic. His body completely changing. His quills turning upwards and his back quills growing longer. He would create a dark blue aura around himself, his fur turning black, his skin a dark grey colour and his eyes have no pupils or irises. Shadow remembered clearly the first time he witnessed this, and it was one of the very few things that actually frighten him. What got to him, was that whenever it happened, Sonic had no memory afterwards. Shadow always remembered his tempers, he just didn't care. To loose it so completely as to have no memory, with the powers that Sonic's had, could put him at the potentially at 'destroying the world' level of power, maybe even more then him.
But despite everything, his heart just wasn't in it, and to do such a thing would destroy him. That was when he learned the Brotherhood when both ways. Even completely gone, Sonic always responded to Shadow. The Blue Blur was still fuming, but now back in control.
Suddenly Rouge's eyes widened. The highway was coming to an end. She had to make a choice and fast. In the very heart of Westopolis, she now had a chance to real shake off these guys. Even with Sonic and Shadow's intervention, they still had pursuers in their tail, who weren't going to let them go easily. She took the junction before the dead end and landed on one of the main roads, in the heart of the city. Some stubborn Badniks were still behind her and the Mobian Authority goons had regrouped and several cars were after them again. The road travels along the city's grid road layout and she saw a turn she could make, with help.
She eyed a large skyscraper and asked Silver to grab the building with the Psychokinesis. He let out streams of bright cyan aura out of his hands, and wrapped them around the entirety of the building. Holding on, with all his might, Rouge then used this to slingshot around the building to make an incredibly tight one hundred and eighty-degree turn. She gritted her teeth, turning the wheel for everything it had.
"Hang on!" She squealed, as the truck screeched at speed around the turn. Everyone was thrown off their feet. Successfully making the turn, she, like Shadow, had worked out that they couldn't outrun their pursuers at straight line speed, they needed to hide and she knew exactly where. The tight turn had lost most of them, including the last of the Badniks, but the Mobian Authority goon still followed them, as she floored the truck, now going back the way they came, down a side street. Still having some people behind them, she noticed a second suitable looking skyscraper, and asked Silver to lasso that.
A second stream of cyan aura came flying out of his hands, but as the building was grabbed, but Rouge made the second tight one hundred and eighty-degree turn before he had a good grip on the building. The truck began skidding out of control as they realised they weren't going to make it. They were going to slam head-on into the side of a building, which at a hundred miles a hour would potentially kill them all. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, a second stream of red aura, this time, Telekinetic, suddenly appeared right above Silver's and lassoing the same building, and then using that, in combination with his almighty Super-Strength, Shadow got the truck around the tight turn. He growled, gritting his teeth.
He was stood on top of the cab, outside, lassoing the building with both hands and using his feet against the side, to force the truck around. He screamed in anger, as this feat pushed him incredibly hard. They made it, just, and Shadow felt some of the surrounding buildings brush against the quills on the back of his head. Having made the turn, they were now going the correct direct, but now in an incredibly darkened back street of Westopolis.
Rouge then floored the truck, but they realising that they were finally alone, she slowed the truck right down, started looking for something. She looked down side street, after side street. Shadow, after the successful lasso had climbed into the back of the truck. This lull didn't last long as he quickly spotted their pursuers, the Mobian Authorities were still following them. Though now somewhat slower, down the incredibly darken street. Shadow growled.
"Rouge. We need to move!" He declared. But the Bat was panicking.
"No!" She spat. "We need to hide!" She squealed, unable to find a suitable location. Realisingthe Bat was correct, Shadow immediately stood, looking out of the back of the truck, and opening his hands out wide, sent red aura everywhere, going straight for the controls of the truck.
Rouge jumped, as suddenly the throttle, and gear shift, moved on their own as Shadow's Telekinesis sent the truck speeding down the street. Opening up his incredible senses, especially his Extra Sensory Perception, as far as it could go, concentrating hard, he quickly found a suitable hiding spot and turning the wheel, backed the truck right into the dead end, before any on-comers had a chance to see.
Now in pitch darkness, he looked at Charlie, who gave him an idea. He extended out his Telekinesis to engulf the entire truck. To hide in the shadows again. Shadow, pushing himself hard, he made it as though the entire truck had vanished into thin air. All their Chaos Energy signatures completely disappearing. The old camouflage trick was back. But everyone had to keep completely still for it to work, which for Sonic was a big ask. Suddenly, the Blue Blur was grabbed by both Charlie and Knuckles, as they desperately tried to keep the madhouse as calm as possible.
Charlie, holding his cousin's head, he did some breathing technics, which Sonic followed. They quickly ease his hyperactive, and the pale blue sparks of the Static Electricity finally disappeared. Soon, all was dark, all was quiet and so they waited. They heard their on-comers looking for them, running and driving past the front of the truck, within a few feet of them, and yet seeing nothing. Everyone held their breath. All they had to do was hold out until they were gone, and then they could move on in peace. Or that was the plan.
Some Mobian Authorities goons on foot were slowing moving down the street, sending off rounds of machine gun bullets into every side street, ensuring they were empty. Finally, they met their boss, just in front of the truck, looking in their direction, down the darken side street. Absolutely nothing could been seen. Shadow's trick was working, and just about holding. Frustrated, the boss told his goons to move off. They were obviously not here. He moved and got into one of the blacked-out vehicles, and left. His goons, however, were still eyeing their side street, not convinced, but before they left, one of them emptied a round of bullets from his machine gun, straight at them. Everyone panicked. At this close range, there was no way to stop the bullets, every with the powerful psychic Chaos Powers they had.
But Sonic got there first. Incredibly quickly and at super-fast speeds, he'd seen this coming, and had exploded into pure Intangibility, going ghost-like, translucent and see-through. He'd fazed straight through Knuckles and Charlie's grip and had started floating. Shadow had seen him coming, with his own Super-Speed senses, the only one who did, and was frowning, wondering what was going on. Sonic then grabbed both his hands, and immediately sent his incredible Intangibility straight down Shadow's Telekinesis line. It overwhelmed the Black Hedgehog as Sonic combined his powers with his own, and caused the entire truck and everyone in it to explode into the ghost-like state themselves, just as all of the bullets from the machine gun began to faze through all of them. Shadow was stunned at the levels of speed involved, and at the huge rush of adrenaline. He groaned, struggling to keep his grip, but it pushed the Blue Blur even harder.
Shadow saw in amazement as he watched several bullets faze straight through himself, and at last all the bullets had successfully hit the wall behind them. All this happened in a matter of seconds, and all the while Shadow still maintaining the camouflage. The teamwork involved was incredible, and both Hedgehog's holding steadfast. Finally, the gunman, satisfied that there was nothing there, left, to a speeding blacked-out car, and soon they were alone.
Rouge gave the signal, and both Hedgehogs finally let go, collapsing hard to the floor of the truck. They were immediately surrounded by people. Shadow recovered relatively quickly but Sonic was in a bad way. Shadow stared at him. He'd felt what it was like to be the Blur Blur. In fact, everyone did, but only for a nanosecond, and it had completely blown them away. The huge sense of freedom, the utter hatred of injustice and the unbelievable rush of adrenaline. No wonder the guy physically couldn't stand still.
Suddenly, there was a huge roar above them. Amy screamed but Shadow immediately silenced her, holding up his hand.
"Quiet." He spat. They all listened. Shadow was delicately listening to the helicopter. The tone of the rotors had an air of familiarity about them. He knew the machine. One that at certain large Bear, he worked for, liked to travel in. Then he recognised it, to his absolute relief.
"It's G.U.N.!" He heaved, as he stuck his head out the back, looking up. He saw the large white G.U.N. helicopter, complete with the large 'G' symbol on it's side. It was lowering a ladder out to the front of the truck, with an utterly relieved Frank, who, one, had finally found them, and two, they were all still alive. All thanks to two incredibly powerful Hedgehogs.
Shadow climbed out of the truck, along the roof, over the cab and met Frank out at the front. The Black Hedgehog was on his knees. Exhaustion was setting in, and soon he'd pass out. It had been years since he'd push himself this far, but the Telekinesis was far more draining then he anticipated. Frank almost hugged him, seeing that he and the others were all perfectly fine.
He was gobsmacked. He seen the truck from above, back into the dead end, and then somehow, in the shadows, vanish. Then then saw that gunman empty his machine gun down that alley, he believed them all to be lost, and yet, here the truck was and them, absolutely unharmed, the bullets hitting the wall behind them. How?
He asked Shadow, and didn't really get a response. The Black Hedgehog's mind was still on the Blue Blur. That Intangibility of his. It was incredible. Shadow had felt it. It was wild, untamed, and yet Sonic's grasp of it was astonishing. By pulling that stunt, he's saved all their lives. Those were armor piecing bullets. The truck was no defense. Finally Shadow understood him, and realised that there was no way even he could truly tame that madhouse. But that was the point. The Powers-That-Be wanted them to work together, not control each other. Frank was heaving. He turned to Shadow.
"The information you sent. It was pretty damming. Lionel, the Chief Executive of the Mobian Authority has been arrested, along with a few other top level High Council members. But he's wasn't going to leave without a fight, as he'd sent those goons after you. He claimed he paid Eggman to kill Sonic, as he blamed his father for killing his family." He shrugged. Shadow stared, but before he could do or say anything, someone piped up from the back of the truck, and started to climb over it, the same way as Shadow, just not as gracefully as the Black Hedgehog. It was Charlie. He didn't slide down the front of the truck, he fell down it, causing Shadow to catch him at the bottom, with both a smirk and an eye roll. Definitely not a fighter. He was panting.
"Hey!" He squealed. "What's my Uncle got to do with it?" He asked. "I know he was arrogant as heck, but he was no killer." He growled. It was obvious that he was talking for both himself and Sonic, who was still heaving on the floor, at the back on the truck. Frank stared, blinking wildly at the Chestnut Hedgehog.
"Wait, your...?" He asked, but was cut across by Shadow nodding, looking extremely stern. He growled. On with the mission, please. Frank nodded in agreement.
"Well." He sighed. "That's what he claimed. But we can't prove any of it, and we're not entirely sure if it would even stand up in court, especially if he changes his story. Those documents you sent might, but all he has to do is claim falsification, and that's it, he walks." He growled, frustrated. "We need extra documents, plus proof on Sonic's father. We have finally gained full high-level access of the Mobian Authority Mainframe, but the system is so extremely vast, that it could take months to even find what were looking for, and we don't have that kind of time. The trail is only in a few weeks." He heaved, very disgruntled. Then Charlie raised his hand.
"Er..I can find you that." He whimpered. "I know the Mobian Authority Mainframe." He stammered. Shadow smirked. He didn't object. He'd never seen anyone run around a computer system as fast as Charlie did. Frank stared at him. He then finally noticed his uniform. He was stunned.
"You work for them." He gasped. Charlie looked down at his uniform and gave a deep sigh.
"I did." He heaved. "I can't exactly go back now." He said, disheartened. Then Shadow raised an eyebrow. Charlie needed a new job. He had a wife and cousin to support, as he was sure that Tails didn't pay for the entirety of Sonic's enormousfood bill. Once Frank saw just how good Charlie was with computers, he'd hire him on the spot. He smirked, turning to Chestnut Hedgehog.
"Go with him." He ordered, indicating Frank. Charlie looked terrified, especially of the helicopter. He gulped.
"Are you sure?" He stammered. But just as Shadow was about to answer, someone hollowed from the back of truck. Someone seriously struggling.
"Go!" He heaved. Sonic had been listening to the conversation, and agreed with Shadow. Charlie was now of better use at G.U.N. But now the three of them now looked seriously worried. Hearing Sonic is such discomfort and pain, was not good. Now he was really struggling.
He was lying on the floor of the truck, Tails and Knuckles either side of him, and he had completely lost control of the Intangibility. He was fazing in and out, solidifying in between, all within a matter of seconds of each other. But Sonic couldn't stop it. Waves of the white ghost-like translucence flowed over him, as he lay on the floor of the truck in agony. It was exhausting. It had been going on for the entire conversation, and showed no sign of stopping. He was now lying on his side, his knees up under his arms, trying to relieve some of the pain. He was frightened. What was happening to him? Silver, Rouge, and Amy could do nothing but watch in horror.
Blaze had climbed over the top of the truck, again the same route as Shadow, and was now standing on top of the cab. She too, looked worried.
"We have to go." She spat. "He's not good." She heaved, having no need to explain who. Considering the prophecy of Sonic's demise, and Shadow's reaction to it, they had to leave and now. Frank nodded, not really understanding, but even he had to agree, loosing the Blue Blur, right now, was not an option. He grabbed the ladder from the still hovering helicopter overhead.
"Where are you going?" He asked. Charlie immediately piped up.
"There's a safe-house just the other side of Westopolis. Sonic knows the location." He admitted, as Frank grabbed him, and pulled him onto the ladder. The Bear nodded.
"Look, those Mobian Authority goons are still around. G.U.N. can cover you until you reach the city limits, but then your on your own." He exclaimed. Shadow nodded, acknowledging the offer, as both Frank and Charlie began climbing the ladder. Frank caught a glimpse of Sonic through the windscreen of the truck, and his heart fell. He turned back to Shadow.
"Look after him." He stammer, of which Shadow responded looking at Frank, indicating Charlie.
"Same to you." He hissed. Frank nodded, as they went their separate ways with the two surviving members of one incredible family. When Shadow got in the back of the truck, after the helicopter left, he saw Sonic, and yes, they had to leave, now. G.U.N. did indeed cover them to the far end of Westopolis, and with Sonic's directions, they finally made it to the safe-house.