So from what I can tell, there wasn't a whole lot of good things to say about the previous chapter. I'm trying to keep a decent balance of action, drama and comedy so I don't become one note like a lot of Sonic games. Sonic 06 was ALL drama, From Sonic Colors and beyond is pretty much ALL comedy, I'm trying to find the right blend. Hopefully this one will be better.
The title of the chapter is significant this time and isn't just made up for the sake of having a title, so that's an improvement I guess. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I own nothing except the story and Yukon "Houdini" the Sugar Glider. Aurora the Hedgehog belongs to E-vay.
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For a moment, time seemed to stand still as everyone gathered in the small town square of Blue Ridge stared in shock at the unmoving form of the planet's greatest hero. Sonic the Hedgehog had been freed from his role as unwilling avatar of an evil space alien, but at what cost?
"Sonic?" Amy slowly walked up to Sonic's body and knelt down in front of it, reaching for his wrist to check for a pulse. Her heart dropped when she felt a very weak and thready beat. "Tails!"
The fox boy immediately rushed over and pulled out his scanner, and he shook his head anxiously when the readings came on screen. "Not good. He's alive, but he's in shock, we need to get him medical attention if he's gonna make it, and considering the circumstances, I don't think the Blue Ridge Emergency Center is gonna cut it." Tails looked up at Amy with a determined expression. "We need to get him back to my lab, and fast."
"Unfortunately, that's not an option." The heroes all looked up at Eggman after he spoke, and with a snap of his fingers, the Shadow Android advanced once more and prepared to attack. "Ingenious I must admit. You've managed to separate their DNAs from each other, but it looks like we've both lost as a result."
"Hey Boss?"
"What is it now?" Eggman grumbled as Cubot once again interrupted his monologuing, but when he turned to see what the yellow robot was pointing at, a sinister grin slowly spread across his face until it practically reached from ear to ear. "Well then, it looks like I've won after all."
"What are you talking about now Eggman?" Knuckles raised a threatening fist.
"See for yourself," Eggman made a grand gesture behind him. "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to someone whom I'm sure you're all well acquainted with by now. Say hello to my ticket to world domination, Ba'Gan the Incursite!"
Gasps, murmurs and angry growls were heard from the gathered heroes as they watched a glowing, super-powered form of what appeared to be Sonic rise up from behind the Egg Mobile. The body was limp and for a moment didn't move, until a few seconds later when its head slowly rose and its eyes opened to reveal an even more horrifying image than ever before. The eyes were now maniacal red spirals that seemed like they would be most fitting in children's nightmares, and with sharp claws protruding from the white gloves he wore and the sharp, jagged fangs now residing inside his mouth, he truly did appear to be a monster.
"That...was unlike anything I've ever experienced." Ba'Gan spoke for the first time since the separation, and his voice now bore very little resemblance to Sonic's, as it sounded much more evil and distorted. Ba'Gan looked at his palms and smiled in wicked delight. "I've somehow managed to retain that insipid creature's form," his fists clenched as he felt the power surging inside him. "But now I no longer feel or hear his presence keeping me from utilizing his strength to the fullest. Now I am truly unstoppable!"
As the monster that was now Ba'Gan cackled evilly, Amy cast a worried glance in Tails' direction. "What are we gonna do?" she whispered.
The young genius gave a similar nervous look back. "I-I don't know."
But then, Ba'Gan's cackling seemed to become less intense, and it continued to weaken until it was nothing more than a weak chuckle. Moments later, Ba'Gan powered down and collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious. "Well, that was almost a dramatic moment." Orbot commented.
Eggman growled lowly at that. "Shadow Android, collect Ba'Gan and place him into the Egg Mobile, then retrieve the Chaos Emeralds."
"Not gonna happen!" Knuckles quickly charged to attack, but he was suddenly knocked to the ground when a blue form jumped him from above.
"Ahh, Metal Sonic, perfect timing." Eggman grinned even as the Shadow Android dropped the unconscious blue hedgehog into his craft. "As you can see everyone, I've made it a point to always be one step ahead of you this time around. Now I realize that you all would eventually defeat my original Metal Sonic and my Shadow Android, but after Metal Sonic generates a new army for you to fight, you'll have wasted so much time that Sonic will likely be gone by the time it was over."
"You miserable-!"
"No," Tails held a hand up to stop the fiery cat girl. "He's right, we gotta find a way to help Sonic, there's not a lot of time left."
"Yes, help Sonic and allow me to regroup, we'll continue this battle another day." Eggman nodded to the Shadow Android, and the robotic version of the Ultimate Life Form headed over to the crater where the emeralds were kept. Then an explosion was heard from behind the scientist, and he turned to see Shadow glaring at the remains of the android he'd just destroyed.
"You're a fool to think those useless piles of scrap would be any match for the one and only Ultimate Life Form."
"So it would seem." Eggman turned back to the large group of heroes, the majority of them still sending him venomous glares as he spoke. "Fine, keep the emeralds for now, it's merely a minor setback in my plan." Metal Sonic jumped into the Egg Mobile as it rose into the sky to leave. "Be forewarned, this is far from over."
As the Egg Mobile vanished from sight, the team was brought back to the situation at hand. "If we don't get him to my lab soon he's done for." Tails turned to the black hedgehog standing behind him. "Shadow, can you teleport us to my lab in the Mystic Ruins?"
Wordlessly, the hedgehog nodded and collected the Chaos Emeralds into his arms. "Someone go get Omega." Moments later the hulking robot was brought out of the building with a cyan outline surrounding him, and the downed gizoid floated past him with the same outline surrounding him. Shadow momentarily raised an eyebrow at this, but he chose not to question it at this time and focused on the emeralds. "Everyone stay close," the heroes all crowded together around him. "Chaos Control!" Instantly, they were gone, with only a sea of scrap metal and some nearly demolished buildings to indicate they were ever there.
It only took seconds for the heroes to reappear inside Tails' workshop, and it was barely another second before Tails rushed over to his computer and pressed a fairly large button on his computer console. But just as soon as Tails got to work, both Sticks and Yukon fell onto their hands and knees. "Hey, are you two alright?!" Silver asked in concern.
The sugar glider raised a finger in response, and his cheeks bulged for a moment before going back to normal, although his face was a rather unnatural color for him. "That was a pretty rough trip, I feel like I left my stomach back in Blue Ridge."
"Bring Sonic over here, hurry!" Tails' shout got their attention back to more pressing matters, and Knuckles reacted immediately as he took Sonic's unconscious body over to the computer, where Tails was busy adjusting his chair into what appeared to be a hospital bed. "Right there Knuckles," Tails turned to grab some loose wires from a compartment in the computer console, and once in his possession, he pressed the ends of the wires to Sonic's body and pressed the same button on the console again, and the screen flashed to a medical reading of Sonic's vitals.
"Is there anything we can do to help Tails?" Cream asked anxiously.
The fox boy didn't respond and just hurried over to the compartment again, and he returned with a small clear device that he promptly placed over Sonic's muzzle and flipped the switch that was attached to it. "That ventilator should help Sonic breathe, but there isn't much else I can do." Tails ran his fingers through his fur and sighed. "I can't come up with any medically sound way to explain this. He hasn't lost any blood, the best way I can summarize what's wrong with him is that the shock of being split in two was too much for him, which is probably why Ba'Gan fainted too. He just had the power of the emeralds to keep him going a little longer."
"Will he be ok?" Amy asked with her hands clasped in front of her face in worry.
Tails just shook his head. "I don't know." his brow furrowed as a determined expression came upon his face. "But what I do know is this...if anyone could pull through, it's Sonic."
"Tails is right!" Cream stepped up and turned around to face everyone. "Mr. Sonic would never give up, I'm sure he'll be ok, and then when he wakes up we can all save the world again!"
Amy did crack a small smile at her younger friend's enthusiasm, but it was short-lived as her eyes locked back onto Sonic's unconscious body, the computer he was hooked up to making a faint beeping noise as it monitored his weak heartbeat. "I hope you're right."
"Well while we're waiting for Big Blue to come back to the land of the living, I think I'll go inform G.U.N. of the situation." Rouge turned to walk out the door of the lab. "If you want, you could help out Omega a little bit, just a suggestion kiddo."
"And uh, I think your robot could use a few repairs too." Silver pointed a thumb over to Gemerl, who had reactivated and was wobbling around like he was drunk.
"Hey guys," the gizoid pointed at the ceiling, his speech slurred as he spoke. "I just counted how many lights there are in the ceiling, wanna know how many there are?"
"Uh no, that's ok," Tails hurried over and began pushing the three buttons in Gemerl's chest in a specific order, inadvertently making the gizoid squirm and laugh as if he were being tickled. But eventually he shut down as Tails completed the shut down sequence. With a weary sigh, Tails dragged Gemerl over to where Omega was still in recovery mode, and he grabbed a screwdriver out of his tool belt and began work on some emergency repairs. "I'll try to get these guys back up and running, I'll also need to come up with a plan to stop Eggman in case Ba'Gan happens to survive too."
"And maybe something for my stomach? Please?"
"I'd like to know why we didn't get sick the first time we did this." Sticks growled even as she held back her heaving stomach. "If only I had access to the ingredients for my signature jungle elixir!"
"It's ok you two," Cream and Cheese went over to help the two ailing Mobians and got them on their feet. "Let's go see if I can make you some tea, that's what Mommy does whenever I have an upset stomach."
"You do that Cream," Tails wiped his brow for a moment and turned to the other members of his rather large team. "There's not much we can do for now, so I guess you all can go do your own thing until we've planned our next move."
The group went off to various areas of the lab, leaving Tails alone to work on the two robotic members of the team. All except for one. "Hey uh, Tails, have you seen Aurora around here?" Silver asked.
Tails looked up and frowned. "Uh...no, actually. Not since we got here. Wonder where she is."
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At this point, there weren't many things that Aurora the Hedgehog could grasp onto that was really concrete in her mind. So far she'd made a fool of herself twice and it was because she was seeing all of these familiar places and people, forgetting that she was nearly twenty years in the past. All of the rules had changed. But there was one thing she knew for sure was still the same as it was in her time.
Tails' workshop had its balcony.
She always enjoyed watching the sunset from there, and she relinquished a small smile as she took comfort in the fact that not everything had turned topsy-turvy on her. She knew she was having trouble adjusting, that didn't really bother her much as long as she didn't give away she was from the future. But after seeing her father on the brink of death and the heartbreaking revelation that this living, breathing Shadow the Hedgehog not only didn't care for her, but didn't even know her...that was the straw that broke the camel's back for her.
Looking down as she leaned her elbows against the railing of her uncle's balcony, she saw Shadow walking over to Rouge who had her hand next to her ear as she conversed with G.U.N. She whipped her head around and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt her already broken heart crack a little more. She hated the thought of seeming fragile, but everyone had their breaking point. For Aurora, to have Shadow right in front of her with the knowledge that he wasn't the Shadow she fell in love with was it.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" The light-pink hedgehog turned to see the young version of her mother looking at her with a sorrowful expression. Aurora closed her eyes and just turned away, giving the slightest of nods with her back facing Amy. "I know how you feel Aurora," Amy went over and leaned on the railing next to the currently older hedgehog. "That awful feeling you get when you're reminded that the love you have for someone goes unrequited, the awful feeling in your heart when the one you love is in trouble and there really isn't anything you can do about it...I've dealt with all of it these past seven years, the feeling never really dulls."
Aurora chuckled in spite of herself. "I don't think you really know how I'm feeling."
"What makes you say that?"
"It's personal," Aurora hung her head and shook it despondently. "Trust me, you wouldn't understand."
Amy put one hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. "I understand plenty." the hammer-wielding hedgehog looked down to where Shadow and Rouge were now conversing. "Right down there is a man you're willing to give your life for, and he barely even knows you exist. That's exactly what I had to deal with for a long time with Sonic!" Amy placed a comforting hand on Aurora's shoulder, which prompted the older hedgehog to turn her head to look at her. "If there's one bit of advice I can give you it's this...don't ever give up! It's taken a lot of doing, but Sonic and I are finally really close friends, and I'm still working on getting him to take it one step further! When will that happen?" Amy shrugged. "Beats the heck out of me, but I do know this...if I had given up instead of fighting for what I wanted, I wouldn't be where I am today, and I'm not gonna let you give up either! We're in the same boat you and I! So instead of moping around and feeling sad that Shadow rejected you, you need to make sure you earn his respect! That's the first step!"
After hearing what her young mother had to say, the photokinetic hedgehog smiled and felt her heart heal a little bit. Although she would never know it, Amy had just displayed one of the things Aurora loved most about her, and for a brief moment, Aurora saw Amy Rose as her mother, and not just Amy Rose. She shook her head to remove that mental image before it got too comfortable in her head, but it did wonders for her morale and for that she was grateful. "Thanks...Amy." she started walking down from the balcony and turned to look over her shoulder before she left. "I really needed to hear that from you."
"No problem!" the darker-pink hedgehog waved a hand dismissively before giving Aurora an excited smile. "Now go get 'im!"
Aurora also smiled, but hers was a bit more mischievous. Of course Amy had missed the veiled message that she sent her, but somehow it made her feel better to acknowledge Amy as her mother even if she didn't realize it. "I will," she nodded. "And I think you should go keep Sonic company, who knows? Maybe having you nearby will revive him!"
"Oh I already planned to do that, I just wanted to make sure you were ok first!" Amy turned to lean her back against the railing. "You know, I feel better after talking to you too, we're pretty alike ya know?"
Aurora smirked. "You have no idea." With that said she bolted, and the first thing she saw upon entering the main area of the workshop was Blaze standing over Tails as he did some delicate work on Gemerl's robotic brain, no doubt trying to multitask as Blaze discussed strategies with him. Then looking to her left, she saw Knuckles standing in the corner, leaning against the wall with one of Tails' scanners in his oversized mitt. If she had to take a guess, Aurora figured he was using the security camera Tails had installed on Angel Island to keep an eye on the Master Emerald.
"Hey Aurora!"
Aurora turned her head to see Sticks hurrying over to her with a steaming hot mug in her hand. As she reached her, the badger took a sip of whatever liquid was in the beige vessel and sighed after swallowing it. "I gotta tell ya," she whispered so no one else could hear. "Your aunt's tea, it's awesome! I felt better right away!"
Aurora rolled her eyes and smirked. "And somehow you're surprised by this." she raised an eyebrow. "But why give in now when all this time you refused to drink anything she tried to give you in our time?"
"Because the liquid technology used to fry our brains and turn us into mindless zombies won't be invented for another seventeen years, eight months, two weeks and three days! Duh! Your aunt's always been too trusting, poor thing never realized what she was slowly doing to herself." Sticks ignored the repeated eyeroll by her best friend and took another sip of the tea Cream had made for her. Then she pulled Aurora away from the others to look her in the eye. "Hey, I know the whole Shadow thing's been rough on you, so are you ok?"
The pink hedgehog gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, I'm ok," the smile grew slightly. "Mom just gave me a little pep talk, it's weird how even though she's technically younger than me now, she still sounds so much like who she'll eventually become." Aurora pumped a fist. "So now I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna follow in my mom's footsteps and earn Shadow's respect, once I do that, things can only get better from there!"
Sticks smiled and punched her best friend's arm, not noticing how Aurora was now rubbing her arm after the blow. "That's the spirit! Go claim your man!"
Aurora nodded and rushed outside, where Shadow and Rouge were standing next to each other with their backs turned to the workshop. From what she could tell, the two G.U.N. agents were speaking to each other in hushed tones, but she couldn't make out the topic. She shook her head and took a deep breath as she refocused on her goal. She walked up to the agents and cleared her throat, which got their attention as they looked over their shoulders to look at her. "Hey, just wanted to say thanks for helping us out back there, you really came through for us!"
Rouge took the compliment with a sneaky grin. "Oh no problem hun, it's just part of what we do." her eyes flashed to Shadow for a moment before she began walking away. "If you two will excuse me, I think I'll go check in on Omega, someone's gotta make sure he doesn't blow that cute little fox boy's home to smithereens." she looked over her shoulder and grinned again. "Now you two behave yourselves, m'kay?"
Shadow paid no mind to Rouge's incessant teasing, or the laughter that rang out until she walked through the door of the lab. At this point, he was used to her trying to get under his skin. He briefly glanced at Aurora, who appeared to be fascinated with the ground all of a sudden. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked coolly.
Aurora's head jerked up and she shook it in a denial. "N-No, not really. I just...I wanted to apologize for the way I acted earlier. I tend to act on impulse sometimes."
"Apology accepted." Shadow turned away and crossed his arms as he looked into the orange and pink sky.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Aurora slowly walked until she was flanking Shadow's left, making sure to remain a respectful distance away from the brooding hedgehog. She looked into the sky as well and smiled. "You know, it's amazing. It's times like these when you take a step back and really admire the beauty and the majesty of what nature has to offer. How often do we take something as simple as a sunset for granted in our lives?"
Shadow scoffed and turned to leave. "I find it very difficult to take anything for granted. You need to have something to take for granted first."
"Like friendship?" The black hedgehog stopped for a moment at that statement, and Aurora took it as her cue to continue. "I know how much you've done for this world, and I know that you did it all because of the deep friendship you have in your heart for Maria." she flinched when the black hedgehog suddenly turned around and glared at her, but she quickly regained her fire and continued. "Don't act so surprised, it's not like it's top secret or anything. You are Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form created by Gerald Robotnik, and the best friend of Maria Robotnik, the girl you made a lifelong promise to. That's why you don't take friendship for granted. Underneath that grumphog exterior," she smiled when Shadow shot her another glare. "There's a heart of gold that values friendship and loyalty more than anything else in the world. It's who you are."
The Ultimate Life Form seemed to stare through Aurora for a few moments, before finally breathing out a low chuckle and smirking. "I'll give you credit for one thing, you've certainly done your homework regarding my past, but if I were you, I'd make it a point to learn that jumping to conclusions often makes you say really stupid things."
"Yep," Aurora crossed her arms over her chest and gave her own smirk, this one of the knowing variety. "Just like the stubborn old grump I imagined, you can deny it if you want, but I know it's true. Trust me, I know you better than you think I do."
"Trust me, you don't." Shadow turned to walk away again, but he flinched when the pink hedgehog suddenly appeared in front of his face with what appeared to be a challenging grin. "You're in my way."
"I know I am."
Shadow moved to go around her, but she just stepped in front of him again and again with each move he made to go around. "You're beginning to irritate me, get out of my way before I move you out."
Aurora grinned as she sensed a great opportunity. It would require her to do something she normally wasn't comfortable doing, but given the circumstances, she would gladly make an exception this time. "Tell ya what Shadow, how about you and I do a quick sparring session? You win, and I get out of your way. But if I win, I get to hang with you and you don't get to say a word about it."
"I have better things to do than entertain your baseless challenges."
"Translation, the Ultimate Life Form is scared of getting beat by a girl! Admit it, you don't want to spar because you're afraid you'll lose!"
"Your gender has nothing to do with anything, and I don't want to spar because I would end up hurting you."
"Shadow the Hedgehog is backing down from a challenge! Someone call the presses!" Aurora then suddenly jumped back and put up her fists as she got into a battle stance. "Come on, first one to fall loses. At the very least I'll be able to get some training in so I'm ready for whatever comes my way in the future!"
"You're very stubborn." the black hedgehog sighed and shook his head. "Fine, I'll make this quick." he got into a stance as well. "Get ready."
"Believe me Shadow, I am more than ready!"
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Silver was not happy. He had looked all over the lab and he'd failed to even get a glimpse of the proper shade of pink. He'd found the darker variety sitting by the unconscious Sonic, rubbing his knuckles as she watched the beeping of the medical monitor Tails had hooked the hero up to. That was definitely a touching scene, but not at all helpful to him.
"This is crazy, she's gotta be around here somewhere." Silver hurried into the main room again, and there he saw Blaze conversing with Tails. "Blaze!" he hurried over to the Sol Guardian as he got her attention with his outburst. "Sorry Tails," Silver looked down at him for a moment before looking the princess in the eyes. "Sorry for interrupting, but I really need to talk to you...alone."
Blaze quirked an eyebrow at this, but she eventually gave the fox boy she was standing over a curt nod before walking away, allowing him to put all his focus on repairing his robots. She followed Silver into an empty room and watched with curiosity as he closed the door and pressed his ear against it before looking at her with a nervous expression. "Is something the matter Silver? You seem very anxious."
"Where's Aurora?!" he blurted out.
"Aurora?" Blaze again quirked an eyebrow. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe I heard Rouge mention that she was outside with Shadow."
"She is?!" Silver ran past her to press his face against the window, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her standing in front of the black hedgehog, although he couldn't make out what they were discussing. "Thank goodness, I thought it might've already been too late."
The cat girl frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Alright Silver, what's going on? Why are you so worried about Aurora?"
"Because of Sonic!" Silver exclaimed as he turned back to look at her. He groaned when he saw her confused expression. "Don't you get it?! They're both in real danger!"
"Is this one of those time travel things you claim to know so much about?" Blaze replied skeptically. "If it is, then shouldn't Aurora still existing mean that Sonic pulls through just fine? She obviously can't be born if Sonic or Amy died, I honestly feel bad that we can't tell them everything will be alright."
The psychokinetic hedgehog shook his head. "No, that's the thing! See, based on the research that I've done over the past few years, in a situation like this, Aurora would still exist as long as Sonic was still technically alive! But that doesn't mean Sonic is guaranteed to pull through from this coma! Now, we could always travel back in time again if he does die, but that would create even more serious consequences!"
"Please Silver, the short version." Blaze sighed.
"Alright, you want the short version? Here it is." Silver sighed and looked the fiery cat girl right in the eye. "There's still a very real chance that Sonic could die, and we all know what that means for Aurora. We can't relax Blaze, nothing is set in stone. Unless we find something we can do to help or a miracle happens, we could lose Aurora to time...forever."
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A/N: So how was that? Was that a little better? I have the big picture in my head just fine but it's the little things in-between I'm trying to make work. Aurora is such an interesting character and I often find myself going back through E-vay's posts to learn more about her depending on the situation I'm making.
Normally, Aurora wouldn't attempt to instigate a fight, but this isn't technically a FIGHT per say, it's a sparring match. Hey, if she can fight at all, she had to learn somehow. So what's Aurora's plan? Is Silver right to be worried? And the biggest question mark...will Sonic pull through? You never know folks, it may SEEM like it's obvious Sonic will survive, but this story has LOTS of room for plot twists. Don't get too comfy.
Well, that's all I have to say. So if you liked this chapter (or the previous one), leave a review and let me know what you thought. You can also find me on my Tumblr account if you have questions about anything regarding the story. See you all next time!
