Hey everyone, sorry it's taken so long to update this, I ran into a bit of writer's block and I wasn't sure what to do with this chapter after last chapter's big reveal. But now I think I've got a decent (note the term DECENT) handle on things and I'm ready to update again. I have a better idea of what I want to do going forward, so the next one should come quicker.
Anyway, before I continue, let me take care of these anonymous reviews.
John: Thanks dude, appreciate the review!
Yago: Lots of that will be seen in this chapter!
So yeah, enough wasting time, it's time to get this party started! I own nothing except the story and Yukon "Houdini" the Sugar Glider. Aurora the Hedgehog belongs to E-vay
_
Somewhere in the depths of Dr. Ivo Robotnik's underground base in the sleepy town of Blue Ridge, a creature known to many as a hero sat in a meditative pose with his eyes closed as he tried to clear his thoughts. No one would be able to tell that the body of Sonic the Hedgehog had been taken over by an alien creature unless he opened his eyes, which would reveal a raging blood red that greatly contrasted to the emerald green that Sonic the Hedgehog was so famous for.
Ba'Gan had been in this meditative state for going on three hours, as any attempts to sleep had simply caused the increasingly annoying voice of Sonic the Hedgehog to ring in his mind and yell obscenities and painfully horrible quips that insulted his intelligence to even have to listen to. Luckily, the meditation had allowed for the voice to die down, and Ba'Gan once again had a grip on the body he'd chosen for himself.
"It's truly remarkable," Ba'Gan thought to himself. "This creature's will to live and will to be free is unlike any other I've ever encountered, and the pent up energy and power in this body is even more impressive." The monster opened his eyes and clenched his fists. "Just going through his memories, the power he has at his disposal, especially when those jewels are involved, it's simply mind-boggling...and to think I now have the capability of using it myself."
The monster's forehead furrowed. "It is strange however...the way that this creature handles his relationships with those he calls friends...particularly the one called Amy."
"You leave her alone!"
Ba'Gan winced. "I must have stimulated a particular nerve, you're back."
"I never left snot rocket! All ya did was find a way to ignore me!"
"So it would appear," the creature replied mentally. "Resistance is futile, I do not intend to relinquish control of your body again, why do you not simply fade away and save yourself the agony of watching as I destroy all that you consider important? Such is the fate of all who will be absorbed by the next generation of Incursites."
"That sounds a lot like giving up, that's not really my style," Ba'Gan could mentally picture Sonic giving him that insipid confident grin. "But you could always get outta my body and save yourself a ton of migraines, whaddya say?"
"If it meant removing your voice from my mind, I would gladly trade bodies without even a second thought. But I'm afraid I can't evacuate until I've gathered the necessary materials I need to begin your world's transition into Droid slaves." Ba'Gan smirked. "I also need to remain in this body for the sake of compatibility, so for the time being, I'll simply work towards...how do you creatures say it? 'Tuning you out?'"
"Compatibility?"
Suddenly an explosion rocked the base, and the speaker in the corner of the room Ba'Gan was in crackled to life. "Ba'Gan, we have an intruder alert! You must eliminate them or your existence will almost surely come to a very abrupt end!"
"Sounds like ol' Egghead's having trouble with my friends."
"So it would seem," Ba'Gan got up from his cot and walked through the door of his quarters, and he casually made his way through the fortress towards where the unmistakable sounds of battle could be heard. "I shall alleviate the good doctor's troubles, and then my mission will continue uninterrupted."
"You're underestimating my teammates pal, they're a lot tougher than you think."
"Oh? We shall see you filthy rat, we shall see."
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Chaos was erupting in the small hallway now filled with sparking and still twitching robot parts. The former Eggman robot known as E-123 Omega had quickly taken care of the doctor's guardian robots and was now working with Gemerl to try and finish off Metal Sonic, who was simply dodging attacks in an apparent attempt to activate his self-replication program. "Stay still you Sonic-wannabe!" the gizoid shouted in frustration.
"Hey, if he wants to jump around and play leapfrog then let him," Rouge shrugged indifferently as she headed over to Shadow. "Gives us more time to find out what's going on here." As the bat girl approached to see what was going on, she saw Aurora fainted on the ground with Shadow standing over her with an eyebrow raised. "You always were a lady killer." she smirked at the black hedgehog.
"She's clearly in need of medical attention," Shadow picked up the unconscious pink hedgehog and slung her over his shoulder. "I can feel the power of the Chaos Emeralds close by, I'll go get them and then once everyone is out of danger, we'll destroy the base."
Rouge's smirk never left her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Who's leading this mission anyway?" The black hedgehog didn't respond beyond giving the G.U.N. agent the tiniest of smirks before rushing off towards the source of the chaos energy. "It's rude to leave without answering ya know!" Rouge rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the battle going on between Omega, Gemerl and Metal Sonic. "A robot rumble to make any twelve-year old nerd geek out."
The bat girl had called upon her old Team Dark teammates to give her some help when she found out she'd be infiltrating a heavily-armed Eggman base. She was good, but certain things required a bit more muscle than even she possessed, and that was where Shadow and Omega came in. Omega of course was more than willing to take another shot or two...or two-hundred at Eggman, and Shadow just happened to be available to assist, as he'd taken to working as a freelance agent for G.U.N. for the more dangerous missions.
Plus, she was his friend. Shadow didn't consider many people to be his friends, so those he did, he would assist them if they were ever to go into battle. That was just who he was.
Rouge waited for an opening where she could jump in and unleash a vicious Screw Kick on the blue robot, but her eyes suddenly widened in shock when she saw Shadow and the girl he was carrying suddenly fly back into the room and inadvertently smash into Gemerl and Metal Sonic, and they all hit the ground with a thud and bounced along the hallway before coming to a stop. "Shadow, what happened?!"
"I happened."
The spy turned around and her eyes widened further when she saw a very familiar golden hedgehog float into the room with his hand releasing smoke as he'd apparently just unleashed an energy blast. "Sonic?"
"In a manner of speaking."
Rouge quickly dived out of the way when the being who was presumably Sonic in his super form raised his hands and began blasting away at the unsuspecting heroes. She managed to tumble behind a corner and she watched in horror as Super Sonic unleashed blast after blast of chaos energy at her now downed teammate Omega, who was just barely hanging on thanks to the incredible strength of his armor. Clenching a determined fist, she rushed out from behind the corner and threw a few smoke pellets that exploded and blocked Super Sonic's vision. With that small distraction in place, Rouge pulled the damaged E-Series robot away from the battle. "I assume there's some sort of explanation for this, right Big Blue?!" she shouted.
"That's not Sonic!" Gemerl was suddenly flanked to her left with his fists clenched in apparent anger. "Some freaky alien Tails says is called an Incursite took over Sonic's body, we've gotta get the Chaos Emeralds away from him so we can get it out of him!"
"Is that all?" the bat scoffed sarcastically. "No problem, I'll just kick him in the face and he'll drop the emeralds right there on the ground!"
"Sarcasm doesn't really help right now, Mama Rouge."
"Sarcasm's all I got right now hun. I'm good, but part of being a good agent is knowing when you're in over your head," another blast kicked up more rubble and forced her to cover her face with her arm for a moment. "This is one of those times."
"Looks like this one's for me," they turned to see Shadow getting up after previously being knocked unconscious from the sneak attack, and the black hedgehog rose into the air and suddenly transformed into Super Shadow in a burst of golden light. "You may look like Sonic, but your fighting style is all wrong, it's clear that whoever you are, you don't know how to utilize the power you now possess."
Ba'Gan's eyes narrowed and he clenched his teeth in anger at the sight of the formerly black hedgehog. "I know you, you are the one he calls Shadow the Hedgehog, the so-called Ultimate Life Form."
Shadow just scoffed and smirked at his opponent before turning towards Rouge. "Gather everyone together, I'm getting us out of here!" Once he received a nod from his teammate, Shadow blasted forward with a burst of speed and tackled the other golden hedgehog to the ground, restraining him from escaping. "Who are you?" he grunted.
The creature cast a murderous glare at the normally black hedgehog as he struggled to break free from his grip. "My name is Ba'Gan, but you may refer to me as your lord and master!" Ba'Gan suddenly leaned up and slammed his head into Shadow's, and that got the ultimate life form to let go of him as he staggered back after the harsh strike. Then the monster quickly advanced and began punching and kicking Shadow at blinding speed, finally ending with a two-fisted blow that sent Shadow crashing through the wall and into another room.
The room where Eggman had apparently stashed the Chaos Emeralds.
Shaking his head to regain his bearings, Shadow looked up and saw the emeralds hooked up to an odd machine of some sort, they were glowing brightly as an indicator that their power was currently being utilized. The moment Shadow realized the emeralds were there, he flew up and began ripping them out of the machine one by one. Once he got to the fourth one, he was struck from behind by an energy blast and knocked to the ground where he dropped the emeralds. "It's always that fourth Chaos Emerald."
"I cannot allow you to take the source of this form's power!"
Shadow took a defensive stance as he prepared for Ba'Gan's attack, but he lowered his guard slightly when he saw the monster stop in mid-attack and suddenly grab his head in apparent agony. "What?"
"No, not now! Why won't this accursed rodent simply fade into nothingness like all of the others?!"
The ultimate life form watched in fascination as the creature known as Ba'Gan convulsed in agony, screaming like a rabid beast who wanted nothing more than to be put out of its misery. Then without warning, Ba'Gan went limp and his body floated as such in midair even as the super form remained. Then just as quickly, the head shot up and its eyes locked onto Shadow. "Shadow, it's me!"
"Sonic? What's going on here?"
Sonic suddenly grabbed his head and groaned. "I can't hold him back for long!" he groaned again and his eyes began to flicker between the normal red of his super form and the blood red of Ba'Gan's control. "Get the emeralds out of here, you can use them to beat this freak!"
"I-" Shadow was immediately cut off.
"No, you will not take my power away from me!"
"It's my power, snot rocket!"
"Silence!"
Shadow watched in shock as the body of Sonic the Hedgehog continued to convulse as the two minds fought for control. But he quickly remembered his goal and he retrieved the rest of the emeralds while Sonic apparently held back the creature who was wrestling for control. "Sonic-"
"Don't worry about me!" Sonic screamed in agony. "Get the others outta here!"
At that, Shadow smirked. "Who said I was worried about you? Just make sure that Ba'Gan doesn't take control and try to destroy the world, then I'd have to kill you."
For the briefest of moments, Sonic had a smile on his face. "As if you'd even be able to take me down!" But then Sonic screamed, and his body went limp again. When his eyes reopened, the blood red had returned.
"You shall be the first to be absorbed for your defiance!" the monster growled venomously. "Mark my words Shadow the Hedgehog, from this moment on, your time having free will is short!"
Shadow wasted no time flying out of the room, and his eyes immediately locked onto Rouge who had been waiting for him with the others. "We only have a few seconds, make sure everyone stays close!" Shadow looked down at the emeralds in his arms, and they glowed brighter as he began to further channel their energy. "Chaos Control!"
"NO!" Ba'Gan blasted forward at light speed, but he was unable to prevent the disappearance of Shadow and the rest of the intruders, and almost immediately, Ba'Gan felt weaker and he sensed his current form slipping away. "No, I will not be defeated, I will complete my mission even if I have to destroy this host to do so!" Using the last of the energy contained in Sonic's super form, Ba'Gan burst through the ceiling and disappeared.
The whole exchange had not gone unnoticed, as Eggman had been watching through the eyes of Metal Sonic. "Well, it would appear that this won't be as easy as I originally thought."
"Well sir, you know what they say, best laid plans and all that," Orbot said with a shrug. "So what will you do now?"
Eggman began typing on his computer console. "According to these readings, Shadow transported everyone above ground, so the Chaos Emeralds are still within reach!" Eggman pressed a button, and seemingly nothing happened as he leaned back in his seat with his fingers entwined with each other. "As I said, I've prepared for every contingency. If Shadow wishes to oppose me, then I will give him an opponent worthy of his abilities." he turned around in his chair and got up. "Of course, a little insurance couldn't hurt."
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"That's it! I dunno about the rest of you but I can't just stay here and wait any longer! I'm going in after 'em!" Sticks the Badger started running out of the building to go after her friend, but she was suddenly cut off by a wall of Mobians and robots that appeared out of nowhere. The sight of at least one of those Mobians caused her eyes to widen in shock. "Shadow?!"
Shadow raised an eyebrow at the fact that this complete stranger seemed to know who he was, but he was soon surrounded by several other Mobians, many of which he recognized as allies and a few strangers. He backed up a couple of steps as Tails slid in on his knees with his scanner to check on the status of the unconscious pink hedgehog. "I asked her if she was injured and she just passed out, I don't know if she's actually hurt or not."
Tails sighed in relief as he stopped the scan. "She's ok, other than a bruise forming on her left shoulder, it looks like she's just fine physically." Tails then moved to scan Omega, who had gone into recovery mode and was slowly repairing his systems from the inside out. "Omega looks like he went through the fires of Hell and back, what happened down there?"
"I think you can explain that better than anyone else kiddo," Rouge stepped up. "I got orders from G.U.N. to infiltrate Eggman's base, and the next thing we know we're facing off against Sonic, who according to Emerl 2.0 here, is literally a man possessed. There was nothing about that in the mission briefing."
"It's a long story," Tails walked over to Shadow who had just powered down from his super form, a big smile on his face when he saw that the black hedgehog was in possession of the Chaos Emeralds. "You got the Chaos Emeralds away from Ba'Gan! That's great! Now we might just have a chance to save Sonic!"
"Not bad Shadow, you sure came through for us this time." Knuckles gave a thumbs-up to the ultimate life form and grinned, but then from the corner of his eye, he saw his new allies talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers. "Uh, something the matter you guys?"
Blaze, Silver, Sticks and Yukon all quickly turned around and stared at the red echidna like deer in the headlights, but before any explanation could be given, Aurora started coming around as a small groan escaped her lips. "Rory, you're ok!" Sticks exclaimed as she ran to embrace her best friend.
Aurora's eyes opened fully as her mind processed the fact that Sticks had her arms wrapped around her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm ok...what happened?" Aurora looked around the room, and then her eyes landed on Shadow once again, and they began brimming with tears as a big smile spread across her face. "SHADOW!" Before anyone could react, the ecstatic pink hedgehog had wrapped her arms around Shadow's torso and captured his lips with her own, kissing him with everything she was.
Everyone - including Shadow - went wide-eyed at this, and the only one able to speak was Rouge, who after recovering from the shock just smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "Like I said, he's a lady killer."
Once his mind actually kicked back in, he grabbed Aurora by the shoulders and pushed her away so that she was at arm's length, much to the apparent hurt of the affectionate hedgehog as her expression visibly deflated at the outright rejection. "Since you're one of the doctor's victims, I'm going to let that slide...but if you ever do anything like that again, you won't like what happens after."
"Shadow, what's the matter with you?" Aurora whimpered.
"Aurora."
The light pink hedgehog turned to see Silver and the others looking at her solemnly, and her eyes widened as she made the mental connection. The figure standing in front of her was without a doubt the being she knew as Shadow the Hedgehog...
But it wasn't her Shadow.
Sighing sadly to herself, Aurora wiped her eyes with her sleeve and took a deep, shaky breath to try and get her raging emotions in check. "I hate this, he's right in front of me and I can't even get near him...I just hope I can still save face." Turning back to the stoic form of her future boyfriend (she hoped), Aurora plastered on a fake smile that she hoped looked convincing enough. "Sorry about that, it's just...I never thought I'd get to meet you in person, I'm...your biggest fan." her voice trailed off at the end as her heart cracked a little more at being forced to suppress its love for him.
"I see," Shadow stepped closer and gave Aurora the usual cool stare he used to make sure he had someone's attention. "Well know this, I've had my fill of random strangers coming up to me to express their admiration for one lifetime."
"It happened one time!"
The black hedgehog chose to ignore Amy's outburst and continued where he left off. "I've come to learn the value of mercy, so I'll forgive you this time. Don't do it again."
"Understood." Aurora rubbed her arm and looked down in sadness, barely contained tears filling her eyes as she turned to go back to the friends she came to the past with, and she made her way to the back of the group to hide her face from everyone else.
"Ok then," Tails coughed into his fist. "Now that that's settled," he turned back to the newcomers of the group. "So you saw Sonic down there, what happened?"
"I have no idea," Rouge shrugged. "After Shadow went after him, I went around and gathered everyone together so Shadow could teleport us out of there before things got too hairy."
"It's clear that whatever's happening to Sonic, it's hurting him." Shadow had gone back to his usual stoic stance with his arms crossed over his chest and a neutral expression on his face. "That creature, he calls himself Ba'Gan, he-" Shadow suddenly stopped talking.
"He...what?" Amy asked.
"I hear something!" the black hedgehog said in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, so do I."
"Same here."
Both Yukon and Rouge concurred with the black hedgehog's suspicions, and moments later they got their proof that there was something, as a blue hedgehog suddenly burst through the floor of the room and landed in front of them, panting like a rabid dog and his eyes blood red with rage. "You didn't truly believe you could get away with that, did you?" Ba'Gan paid no mind to the fact that everyone was now on their guard, and his eyes locked onto Shadow who was also in a defensive stance. "You!" he pointed an accusing finger. "You will pay for attempting to rip my power away from me! Now you will suffer the wrath of Ba'Gan!"
"So far you've been all talk and no action," Shadow scoffed. "Back up your words and maybe I'll start taking you seriously." Shadow called upon the power of the Chaos Emeralds as they rose and began swirling around him as he transformed back into his super form just as Ba'Gan did the same. "So, ready for round two?"
"Die!" Ba'Gan charged towards Shadow and tackled him outside, shattering the glass doors. Together they rose into the air until Shadow managed to break free with a harsh kick to Ba'Gan's abdomen, which he then followed up with a brutal uppercut that sent him flying high into the sky. After recovering, Ba'Gan roared in rage. "You continue to resist! I have never met such an ignorant race in the entirety of my existence, you are only making your pending death that much more agonizing the longer this goes on!"
"You're still talking," Shadow smirked. "Now I'm starting to wonder who I'm fighting, Sonic talks too much too." the black hedgehog then swung his arm back as energy formed in front of his fist. "Chaos Spear!" Whipping his arm forward, Shadow launched a sharp blast of chaos energy careening towards Ba'Gan, but he managed to dodge the attack. "First thing you've managed to do right this whole day, for someone claiming to be this all-powerful being, you aren't that effective."
"Do not patronize me!"
The battle in the air continued, and the rest of the group (minus the recovering Omega) rushed outside to witness it taking place. "Tails, can you hit Sonic with your Gene Splicer from here?!" Amy exclaimed hopefully.
The fox boy shook his head. "I don't dare try to use it right now, they're moving so fast that if I tried to hit Sonic, I'd probably miss and I might even hit Shadow, and if that happened, I don't even want to imagine what might happen to him."
"Then maybe we can hold him still somehow!" Knuckles exclaimed suddenly.
"Oh sure, why don't you go up there and give golden boy a hug? That'll work."
The echidna turned and growled at the ever-antagonistic thief. "Do you have a better idea?!"
"I think I might have one!" All eyes turned to Silver, who looked at his hands for a moment before looking up into the sky where Ba'Gan and Shadow were still duking it out. "Maybe I can use my psychokinesis and hold him still for you!" Silver's body glowed with a cyan outline as he took off into the sky to join the battle between the two super forms.
"Silver wait!" Blaze's shout came too late, as the psychic hedgehog had already taken off. "I hope he isn't in over his head."
"Uh, I don't think it's Silver we need to worry about."
Blaze turned around to look at what Yukon was referring to, and her eyes widened as she beheld an army of Metal Sonic replicas, and what appeared to be replicas of none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. "How...how can this be?"
"Look like ol' Eggy's playing dirty this time around," Rouge clenched her fists. "Those are some of his old Shadow Androids!"
"How flattering that you remember." the group jumped back as a giant robot landed in front of them, with none other than Eggman riding in the cockpit on its head with Orbot and Cubot there with him. "I just couldn't resist joining in on the fun, so I thought I'd debut one of my latest mechs, behold the awesome power of the Egg Titan!" The Egg Titan was a large robot about as tall as the buildings around the area, and it appeared to have a face with sharp jagged teeth and angry red eyes. Spikes were underneath its long nose to resemble a mustache, and in its fists was a large sword and shield.
"Somehow you're the one I'm the least worried about Eggman!" Amy summoned her hammer and got into a battle ready stance, and the other soon followed her lead. "Think we can take him Tails?" the girl whispered.
Tails had a hurricane bomb in his hand ready to throw at will. "I dunno Amy, but if we don't try...well, you know." Screwing on a determined expression, Tails looked up at Eggman and pulled his arm back a little further. "Ok Eggman, you want a fight? You got one!"
The mad scientist cackled. "And you think that measly little firecracker will be able to damage my fabulous creation?"
The fox boy smirked and heaved his hurricane bomb, as it flew in-between the legs of the Egg Titan and blew up some of the robots standing behind him, and immediately the battle picked up as the robots advanced. "Keep Eggman busy! I'm gonna fly up and wait for a chance to use the Gene Splicer!"
"You got it Tails!" Knuckles slammed his fists together and started punching out robots left and right as they came. "Step right up, there's plenty for everybody!"
While most of the team engaged the multiple Metal Sonic replicas and Shadow Androids, Blaze and Gemerl were working on defeating the Egg Titan before it could cause some major damage. "You know you made such a big deal about this new mech of yours Egghead, but it still looks like the same ol' junk to me!"
Eggman swung the giant robot's sword in response to the gizoid's sass, but it was a clean miss as Gemerl was much too fast for the bulky mech. "Maybe if you would just hold still, I could show you just how powerful my Egg Titan is!"
"Uh huh, sure, can I go play with your robot army? They're a lot more fun than you are!"
The scientist growled and used the mech's shield to take a swing at Gemerl, but again he missed as Gemerl leaped over the attack and then redirected himself so that he slammed his outstretched foot into the chest of the robot, nearly knocking it over. "You miserable hunk of scrap! I should have never revived you! You could've been the key to world domination, but instead you chose to return to being what you were before my brilliant improvisations!"
"You say that like it's a bad thing!"
Then Blaze took a turn to attack, as she wrapped herself in fire and drilled into the robot's chest with a powerful spinning kick that again nearly knocked the mech over. "You shall regret trying to hurt my friends Doctor, that I swear!"
Eggman turned to glare at the fiery cat girl, and it was then that his brilliant mind came to a startling realization. "So, you're here as well! That must means the Sol Emeralds are nearby." Eggman rubbed his palms together as an evil grin spread across his face. "Excellent, those will certainly come in handy!"
"You'll never have them!"
"Don't be so sure my dear," Eggman raised a finger. "When I set my brilliant mind to something, I seldom fail."
"Unless Sonic's involved, then you always lose."
The grin immediately vanished and Eggman took another swing at the loud-mouthed gizoid, and this time he made contact as Gemerl was slammed into a nearby building from the impact and slumped to the floor. "That'll teach you to badmouth one who is so obviously your superior," then Eggman turned the mech to glare at the on guard cat girl. "Now it's your turn, get a load of this!" Pressing a button on his console, the Egg Titan suddenly stood upright and several missiles came flying out of its back all targeting Blaze.
The Sol Guardian's eyes widened in shock and she began running as fast as she could to avoid the missiles, trying desperately to avoid running into a teammate and getting them blown up in the process. "Everyone out of the way!"
Meanwhile up in the air, Silver was struggling to keep up with the dueling Shadow and Ba'Gan, who were moving so fast that every time he tried to focus his powers, they would both be gone and he would have to try again. "This is ridiculous, I can't even keep up with where they are half the time!" The psychic hedgehog glanced down at the battle below, and he saw everyone holding their own against the robot army who were clearly too crowded to be fully effective. But then his pupils shrank when he saw Blaze get blown back by an exploding missile courtesy of the giant robot below. "Blaze!" Silver reacted immediately and flew in front of the final missile that would've killed the vulnerable princess, and he focused his psychokinesis towards the offending artillery and stopped it in its tracks. "Have a taste of your own medicine Eggman!"
"Oh dear." Silver had given a determined grunt as he sent the missile back towards his giant robot, and Eggman quickly pressed the eject button as his Egg Mobile came flying out of the Egg Titan just before the missile destroyed it. "Do any of you have any idea how much building these robots cost? It isn't cheap I assure you!"
"Then maybe you should stop wasting your money," Knuckles slammed his fists together as he walked up to the doctor with a satisfied grin. "You stop building robots, and we'll stop smashing 'em."
"With a name like Robotnik, building robots is a big part of what I do." Eggman looked around and noticed that all of the heroes were now glaring angrily at him amongst a sea of scrap metal and sparking wires. "Of course in hindsight, it would appear that deploying such a large number of them in such a tight area hindered my robots' ability in combat. Lesson learned."
"You keep learning the wrong lesson! Lemme teach you the right one again!" Amy leaped up to smash Eggman with her hammer, but her trajectory was suddenly interrupted by a lightning-fast black figure that tackled her to the ground and held her there. "Uh oh, missed an android!"
"Excellent work Shadow Android!" Eggman turned to the large band of heroes who all looked extremely angry at him. "Now then, I'll make this simple for you. If any of you try to save her, I'll have Shadow Android kill her!" As if in response to the threat, the Android's arm turned into a missile launcher, and the explosive was now aimed directly at the frightened pink hedgehog's head. "So, does anyone want to try and stop me from going on my merry way?"
No one on the ground said anything, but Amy's situation hadn't gone unnoticed. "Shadow! Amy's in trouble!" Tails shouted.
Hearing that caused Shadow's eyes to widen as he looked down to see Amy at the mercy of one of his robotic doppelgangers. "Those pathetic Shadow Androids! The doctor has gone too far this time!" Unfortunately, Shadow's loss of focus caused him to become vulnerable for a moment, and Ba'Gan took that opportunity to slam both fists into Shadow's head, which sent him hurtling towards the ground where he landed so hard that he formed a crater in the concrete, the Chaos Emeralds surrounding him as he was knocked unconscious and out of his super form.
"Shadow no!" Aurora was about to run over to the crater, but the moment she took a step, Amy gave out a shriek of her own as the Shadow Android reacted to Aurora's movement and pressed the armed missile into her head, waiting for the moment someone tried to rescue Amy. "You monster! Let her go!"
"I'm sorry, who are you again?" Eggman raised an eyebrow. "I only acknowledge the pitiful pleas of heroes whom I've been properly introduced to." Eggman smirked a little bit at the frustrated growl Aurora gave. "At any rate, it doesn't matter. I am a generous man, and I will call off the Shadow Android as soon as Ba'Gan and I safely make our escape with the Chaos Emeralds in our possession."
"DOCTOR!"
Everyone - including Eggman - was shocked to see Ba'Gan flying down at reckless speeds to confront the scientist as he grabbed him by the front of his coat and snarled at him. "How dare you?! That female is imperative to my mission, she must not be destroyed!"
"Wait just a moment Ba'Gan, I-"
"Have your robot take her!" Ba'Gan yanked on Eggman's coat again. "If you don't I will be forced to take matters into my own hands!"
While the two argued over which course of action to take, Yukon silently made his way over to Silver. "You may never get a better chance, if you're going to do it, do it now!" he whispered.
"But what about Amy?!" Silver whispered back.
"Leave that to me," Yukon silently made his way into the back of the large group, and he managed to find his way to a tall tree. He swiftly climbed up to the top and surveyed the area, and as soon as he spotted his next destination, he jumped off the tree and glided to the snow-covered roof of the building behind the villains unnoticed. "Boy I hope this works." Crawling as close as he could to the edge without being spotted, Yukon looked down and spotted his target. Then he looked over to Silver and gave him an 'a-ok' hand signal. "Here goes nothing!"
"Boss!"
"What is it Cubot?!" the moment he turned to glare at his little yellow robot for interrupting, he saw a streak of beige go through his line of sight and land on the Shadow Android, which forced it to have to change its main objective as it was held back by Yukon holding its missile launcher away from Amy, allowing her to escape. "No! Ba'Gan, stop him!" the doctor's eyes widened when he saw Ba'Gan trying desperately to move, but some form of cyan energy was apparently keeping the growling, snarling alien in place. "What?!"
"I can't hold him for much longer! He's too strong!" Silver strained as he fought to keep his energy focused. "Tails, do it now!"
"O-Ok!" Tails aimed his Gene Splicer right at the super-powered form of Sonic. "Sorry to break up such a close relationship!" Tails fired, and a purple, electric beam flew out of the device and hit its target. "Yes! Direct hit!"
A blinding light forced everyone in the area to shade their eyes as they tried to discern exactly what was happening. From inside the sphere of light, it appeared as if one being was somehow being split into two. "What...is happening to me?!" the voice of Ba'Gan shouted in agony.
"We're being...split apart!" that was Sonic's voice, and it was clear from his voice that the separation was hurting both of them.
By this time, Tails had flown down and was now watching the spectacle with everyone else, and Amy ran over to him with her hands clasped in front of her chest with an anxious expression. "What's happening Tails? Is Sonic gonna be ok?!"
All the fox boy could do was shrug helplessly. "I don't know."
Both Ba'Gan and Sonic continued to grunt, groan and cry out in pain as the Gene Splicer's beam fought to separate the DNAs of the both of them. "I...must...maintain...this form!" Ba'Gan roared as he fought the machine's influence, and for a moment it appeared that the second being that was emerging was slowly getting sucked back in.
"Sonic no! Fight him! Please!"
The true blue hedgehog had nearly exhausted himself from this ordeal, but hearing the desperate pleas coming from Amy and the rest of his friends who were also now cheering him on, Sonic gritted his teeth and gave one final push. "If you think...I'm going back to sharing a body with you...you're more cracked than Eggman!" Sonic pulled even further away, and he could feel the resistance increasing as Ba'Gan desperately tried to keep his hold on him. "No way slime ball, I'm through being housemates...now let...me...go!"
The light intensified for just a brief moment more, forcing everyone to look away before vanished altogether. Once they were able to see again, they looked down to the ground, and everyone's eyes widened in horror at the sight.
Laying on the ground was none other than the inert, motionless body of Sonic the Hedgehog.
_
A/N: Eh heh...so yeah, how about that cliffhanger? *Sees angry readers everywhere* Yes...well, please don't hate me. I have a very good reason for doing what I'm doing, all will be revealed in future chapters...as for Shadow and Aurora...well, let's be honest, this isn't her Shadow, he's still rough around most of his edges and isn't into being kissed by total strangers...that's understandable...right?
Yeah, y'all wanna lynch me for being so mean to the characters. BUT IT WILL GET BETTER...eventually...um, yeah. So, if you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review for me and lemme know what you think. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next one out sooner. See you all next time when we find out what has befallen Sonic and Ba'Gan!
