Shadow's Odyssey 2: The Chaos Continues

Rouge stirred and blinked groggily. Having not gotten any sleep since Shadow, or rather Sidious, had broken Eggman out of jail had caught up with her. Being shocked into unconsciousness didn't really count.

"Enjoy your nap, sleeping beauty?"

"Are we there yet?" She asked grumpily.

"Almost, we just need to make a quick stop first." Lando replied.

"Stop? We don't have time for stops!" Rouge protested.

"This is an important stop. And it won't take long I promise."

The ship descended towards a gas giant and landed on a city floating in its clouds.

"Now you ladies wait here. I'll be back." Lando waved goodbye and left the Falcon with the money they recently stole.

"So, what is this important stop anyway?" Rouge asked.

"Paying the bills." L3 answered.

Lando entered his office, only to find four Madalorian warriors standing in there.

"Um, excuse me, what are you doing in my office?"

"It's not your office anymore."

Lando indignantly put his hands on his hips. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"This mining operation has been signed over to us."

"I didn't approve of that! You can't just take this place from me!"

"We already have." The warrior knocked Lando out before he could protest any more. "Take him down to a holding cell."


"There's the Falcon. Lando will be in Cloud City somewhere. And he'll have that gem with him." Han said.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Sonic asked.

"Simple, we land, you pop out, find Lando, punch him in his smug, stupid face, take the gemstone, and then we leave!"

"That's barely even a plan. I like it! But how do I know when I find him?"

"The guy stands out like a sore, overly dressed thumb. Trust me, you'll know him when you see him."

Sonic nodded. "Okay, got it!" And zoomed away.

"Wait! You forgot the tracker!" Han called, but Sonic was already too far away. "Oh, whatever. He'll still find him eventually."

Just then, a communication arrived. "It's the boss." Greedo said.

"What does he want now?" Han groaned.

Greedo answered and Jabba's image appeared.

"We're kind of busy getting that gem you want. What is it?" Han sassed, which caused Greedo to quietly facepalm. It was as if Han wanted everyone he met to have a reason to kill him.

Jabba pressed a button and a second hologram of Sonic appeared. He made a bunch of grunts that translated to, "Recognized this creature? My men claim they saw it boarding your ship."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Kill it."

"Why? He's helping us."

"Fools! He's after the Emerald for himself!"

"Damnit, Han! I told you so!" Greedo shouted.

Han remembered how uncomfortable Sonic was with stealing until he had described exactly what they were stealing.

He sighed, feeling dumb. "Alright, we'll go get him."


"What is taking so long?" Rouge grumbled.

L3 would've normally ignored this type of complaint, but it was a good point. Lando was taking far longer than expected. In these kinds of situations there were only two possibilities: 1. He found a pretty girl to flirt with or 2. He was in trouble. And there weren't a lot of pretty girls on mining colonies so…

"Come on, let's go find him."

No sooner did they leave the ship than a blue streak suddenly raced by.

"Did you see that too, or is processer malfunctioning?"

Then the blue streak came back. "Hey it's that ship! Rouge, is that you?"

Rouge blinked. "Sonic? What are you doing here?"

"I assume the same thing you're doing." He said, glancing at the Chaos Emerald in her hands. Rouge unconsciously clutched it tighter.

"You know this guy?" L3 asked.

"I'm Sonic! Fastest Thing Alive and Adventurer Extraordinaire!"

L3 ignored the boasting and got on to practical matters. "Have you seen Lando? He's been gone for an unusually long amount of time."

"Funny story, he's the guy I came here looking for too. He's got a Chaos Emerald I need to reclaim. But it looks like Rouge beat me to it."

"Actually, I've had this the whole time." She hadn't let go of the Emerald since recovering it from Canto Bight. "Why would you think… Were you in the ship that was shooting at us?"

Sonic looked confused, then sheepish. "Um… maybe?"

"You're working with Han Solo?" L3 accused.

"Well… kinda." Sonic admitted. "You see, I needed transportation and he was the only one willing to give me a ride. Once I had got the Emerald and had taken me to where the Jedi were, I was planning on ditching him."

L3 looked at Rouge. "Do you really trust this guy?"

"Definitely. Despite what that story sounds like, he's one of those heroic goody-two shoes types."

"Are you willing to help us find Lando?" L3 asked. "We think he might be in trouble."

"Sure, no problem! Wait here a second." And then he was gone.

Sonic ran about knocking on doors.

"Hello! Anyone named Lando in there?"

Eventually, one of the doors did open. But the person who answered did not match the description Han gave of Lando. It was a person in black armor.

"Sorry, wrong door. My mistake." Sonic turned to leave-

"Hold on a second!" The man in the armor took a closer look at him. "Would your name be Sonic the hedgehog?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm…" Sonic paused. How would this guy know his name? Sure, he made a big public appearance on that desert planet, but he hadn't mentioned his name. "I'm… not. My name is Maurice."

The armored man pulled out a blaster and pointed it at him. "How about you come with me?" Before he knew it, he was on his back, groaning in pain.

Sonic sat on his chest. "So, wanna tell me how you know my name? And while you're at it tell me yours. It's only polite to introduce yourself, after all."

The armored man activated the flamethrower on his wrist and forced Sonic off of him. The speedy hedgehog easily kept clear of the flames until the flamethrower ran out of juice. Then he flung himself at the man's chest and knocked him down again.

"Let's try this again. How do you know my name?"

"I'm not telling you anything. You might as well just kill me right now."

"Nope. Not my style. How about you just take a nap instead?" Sonic knocked him unconscious and walked out of the room to find Han and Greedo.

"Hey guys, I haven't found this Lando guy yet. But don't worry, I'm getting close." Sonic then notice that they both had their blasters drawn and pointed at him.

"Uh…" Sonic's first thought was that they heard his conversation with Rouge but how could they have heard that?

They shot at him but came nowhere near hitting him.

"Guys come on! Can we talk about this?"

Greedo was getting increasingly frustrated, and eventually dove at Sonic with a yell. Sonic sidestepped and he crashed face-first into the wall.

"Look, I really don't have time for this so why don't we agree to meet and work this all out later, okay? Bye!" Sonic bolted from the scene.

Han groaned. "This is gonna be a pain. Come on, Greedo, let's go."

But Greedo didn't get up.

Han nudged him and realized Greedo was unconscious. "Ugh, and you think I'm the idiot."

Sonic eventually found a room that looked like a prison. Inside one of the cells was a rather fashionable looking man with a sparkly cape.

"Would you be Lando Calrissian?"

"Who wants to know?"

"Well his friends seem to think he's in danger so I'm here to save him."

Lando smiled. "Well, much appreciated."

Sonic went over to the control panel and hit buttons until the door opened. "So, what were you doing in jail?"

"It's those Mandalorians. They took over the whole place."

"Would they be the people who wear black armor and have no manners?"

"Yeah. Them."

"So, what do they want with this place?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know, but I've heard rumors about them "buying" a lot of territory across the galaxy. Whatever it is they're up to, it must be big."

Sonic shrugged. "We can talk about that later, let's get you out of here."

They went outside and found Han waiting for them.

"Have you been with him the whole time?" Han accused.

"No. Just now."

Han moved his glare to Lando. "Not that you deserved this warning, but he's just after the Emerald for himself."

"I've got bigger problems than some rock! If that's what you're here for, I'm afraid I don't have it."

"Then who does?" Han demanded.

"Look man, those Emeralds don't belong to you. I need them to save my friend." Sonic explained. "Now you could try shooting at me again, but I think we both know you're gonna miss."

Han shot at him anyway. Sonic simply ran over to him and took the blaster away. Lando followed up by punching Han in the face.

He stumbled backward… and fell off the edge.

Sonic raced forward and grabbed his foot. "I've got you!"

Han looked at him, confused. "Whose side are you on?"

"What, I can't save your life just because?"

"I tried to kill you!"

"True, but you had the courtesy to fail."

Sonic pulled Han back to safety.

"Are you some kind of nut!?" Han shouted.

"According to all my friends, yes. But I also know a halfway decent person when I see him. And you don't seem like the kind guy who deserves to plummet to his death."

"As amusing as this is, can we go now?" Lando interrupted.

Sonic and Lando departed, leaving Han thinking, Yeah, that guy's a nut.