Shadow's Odyssey 2: The Chaos Continues

Han had no clue what was happening. His job was just to steal an Emerald and kill Sonic. But now he's somehow gotten dragged into a fight with some Mandalorians, everyone keeps talking about this guy named Sidious, even though he supposedly died two decades ago, and the hedgehog who'd blown up an entire city was now just laying in a bed and no one was doing anything about it.

But everyone still treated him like he was a threat. The Jedi who interrogated him before slapped another pair of binders on him and shoved him into a corner to be guarded by a large droid.

"Can someone please explain why this is happening?"

"You stole the Chaos Emeralds, shot the Governor, and tried to kill Sonic." Petro answered.

"No, no, no. Me being arrested again, that makes sense. It's everything else! If you guys are fighting the Mandalorians, why are two of them standing over there in the corner?"

Bo-katan gestured contemptuously at Boba. "This one isn't a Mandalorian."

"Why is no one killing the hedgehog who blew up the city? And what is he doing here?" Han pointed angerly at Lando.

Lando shrugged. "I felt like helping out."

"Fair warning for the rest of you guys, whatever he's doing, it's probably a scam."

"I'll have you know I am a legitimate businessman now!"

Han rolled his eyes. "Sure, you are."

Sonic, who had been watching this, glanced back at the bed and realized Shadow was gone. After a quick search, he found the other hedgehog outside, staring up at the sky. The sun had started to set and a few stars could already be seen. But Sonic could guess that Shadow wasn't out here take in the scenery.

"Hey, Shadow. What are you doing out here?"

Shadow didn't answer.

"Should be a nice night. No clouds, we'll get a nice view of the stars, I wonder what kind of constellations this planet has? They have a lot of planets in this galaxy, there's probably billions of them!"

"I'm waiting."

Sonic's rambling came to an abrupt halt. "What?" It took him a minute to realize this was the answer to his previous question. "Waiting for what?"

"For him to come back."

"Come back?"

"Come back and finish us off."

"Oh. Well, hey it's not over yet!"

"Yes, it is."

"But we can still-"

Shadow's voice gradually grew louder. "No, you can't! We can't do anything! The only reason that Sidious left the rest of us alive is because he wants to see whatever pitiful attempt we make to try and stop him. You had your chance and you wasted it. So, if you think pretending that there's still hope and everything's fine is going to cheer me up, then don't bother!"

They both stood in silence for a minute.

Then Rex came outside. "We're going to have a meeting to decide what to do next, if you guys want to come."

Sonic jumped at opportunity to leave this terrible conversation. He hobbled inside, trying to keep pressure off his sprained leg and left Rex and Shadow alone.

"Are you coming Shadow?"

Shadow spun around to face him. "Why!? Don't you get it? We've LOST! All of this has been for nothing. Everything I do is for nothing. Freeing the clones, fighting to stop Sidious, none of it mattered. I just delayed the inevitable."

"I spent an entire war fighting for nothing. Every battle, every victory, every defeat, every sacrifice. That meant nothing. But then you showed up. You gave us a chance to fight for something real. For something we chose. That is not nothing. Now, we may not ever defeat Sidious, we might all end up dead. But I will never stop fighting for what I believe in. And neither should you."

Shadow said nothing, but he did follow Rex when he went back inside.

At the meeting, Eggman was the first to speak up. Everyone else groaned. Eggman ignored them in favor of talking. "With Sidious free, we have absolutely no chance at killing him. We should just build a portal back to Mobius and leave. We are one Chaos Emerald short, but the Master Emerald should more than make up for it."

"We can't just leave!" Tails exclaimed.

"Why not? You guys came to save Shadow and you did. Now we can leave."

"Not until we stop Sidious." Rouge argued.

"I just told you that's impossible. Even if we do kill him, he'll just hop into another body." Then Eggman thought for a moment. "Although… we don't really know the limitations of that ability. Perhaps if there was no one close by… Hmm. Perhaps there is another way."

"What are you suggesting?" Petro asked.

"We can build the Emeralds to build another super laser and blow up Mandalore!"

"What?" Bo-katan shouted.

"Yeah, I know it's your home and whatever but listen. If Sidious is on Mandalore and we blow Mandalore up, then everyone else on Mandalore will die as well, leaving no one close by for Sidious to possess. So if Sidious's body jumping ability really does have a limit, he'll be forced to die!"

"Are you insane!?" Bo-katan growled.

"Yes." Sonic replied.

"It could work. And if it doesn't, we'll just go back to my other plan of leaving."

"We are not destroying Mandalore." Petro declared.

"In case you hadn't noticed, ignoring my suggestions hasn't worked out in your favor."

Petro Force Pushed him against the wall. Then he paused an took in a few deep breaths. He proceeded after he calmed down. "Does anyone else have suggestions?"

"Well, I think the best course of action would be to get our hands on the cure for that virus." Rex offered. "It's only a matter of time before they use it on us."

"That's a good point but how are we actually supposed to get it?" Lando asked. "There's no getting past that blockade."

"They have to ship this stuff to the planets that swear their allegiance." Boba pointed out. "We could ambush one of their shipments."

"If we start doing that, they'll tighten their security. It'll get harder and harder each time we do it." L3 put in.

"Are we sure there isn't any other place, anywhere at all, that we can get this root?" Tails questioned.

"It can only be found on Iego." L3 said.

"Maybe we can find some sort of substitute." Tails tried again.

"That could take years of research." Petro stated flatly.

Luke shrugged. "I guess we'll have to be pirates then."

"You guys wanna get onto Iego? Because I know how."

All eyes turned suspiciously to the man sitting in the corner.

"You know haw to get past the Mandalorian blockade?" Bo-katan asked disbelievingly.

Han nodded. "Yeah. I know about a secret hyperspace lane. We'll be able to slip onto the planet completely unnoticed."

Lando looked skeptical. "I've never heard of any secret hyperspace lanes to Iego."

Han smirked. "That's because I'm the one who discovered it. And in return for showing it to you, I only ask in return my freedom, a ship, and 3,000 credits."

"You expect us to pay you?" Leia exclaimed.

"Well you guys seem awfully desperate…"

"Fine." Petro decided. "We'll try out this secret route of yours and if everything works out, you will be paid. But for now, we should all get some rest."

Shadow, who had been silently listening, was not impressed by this plan. Even if the scoundrel was telling the truth and they did get their hands on the cure, it would only slow Sidious down. They need a faster, more direct solution. Luckily, someone had already come up with one.

Later that night, a slap across the face woke Eggman up.

"Ommff!" A hand covered Eggman's mouth. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a shadow standing over him.

"You really think building another super laser can kill Sidious?"

"In theory."

"What do you need to build one?"