sasa22
**Chapter 8 – Gotta get a hold of my life**

It was only seconds after the broadcast ended that the Tornado 2 arrived in Station Square. They hadn't heard Eggman's ranting or raving, and the roar of the engines had been so great that they hadn't heard the laser blast scream over their heads. But they certainly noticed the level of panic in town that everyone seemed to share. They ran around in terror, trying to comprehend what they had seen.
"Hey! What's going on?" Tails asked a passing Overlander in concern.
"We're all going to die!" he wailed, not stopping for even a second.
Sonic ran over and grabbed him gently by the arm. "What are you talking about?!?" he asked. He didn't like this – everyone was too jumpy. The man whimpered, the recent events getting to him. "Please! Let me go!" he sobbed. "I need to be with my wife and children!"
Sonic let the man go, and turned to his friends. "What's got everyone on the edge?" he wondered aloud.

Amy was the first to see it. She gasped and pointed skyward. "Look!" she screamed. "Half the moon is GONE?!?" Sonic and Tails looked up into the night and saw what she did – the still glowing red crater that had become part of the moon's landscape. The three of them gaped in horror. There was only one man who had such intents of destruction – this had Robotnik's glove prints all over it.
"Eggman!" Sonic snarled, clenching his fist in anger. "Oh man, that guy never gives up!"
Tails nodded. Only he would do something like that. Tails knew however that he didn't have any machines powerful enough to do that kind of damage. "But how did he manage to harness all that energy?" Tails asked.
'Good question,' Sonic thought to himself, pacing back and forth. Thinking hard, Sonic started recalling the events from the last two days. Then it hit him – Shadow had stolen the Chaos Emerald from the bank. And there was a reason why, too. "It's gotta be the power of the Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic snapped his fingers. "Yeah! That's why they were looking for 'em!"
'Chaos Emeralds?' Tails thought, reaching into the Tornado 2. "You mean… like this one?" he asked, pulling out a jewel that shone with a yellow glow – the last of the Chaos Emeralds.
Sonic and Amy stared at the fox in surprise. Tails had a Chaos Emerald? "Tails?" Sonic spluttered.
"I've been doing a lot of research on this thing since I was given it. The Chaos Emeralds are like magnets," he explained to the two. "I can use that to track down the others and find out where Eggman is!"
Sonic raised his eyebrows. "Cool! Let's do it!"

Tails nodded and jumped into the Cyclone – he'd switched into mech mode for landing – and was about to start analyzing the emerald when sirens blazed all around them. "DON'T MOVE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE! THE THREE OF YOU, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" came an amplified voice. Sonic rolled his eyes. "Not again! Tails, I'll distract the cops! You find a way out of here! Find Eggman!"
"Got it!" Tails called, but Sonic was already gone. He sighed and fired up the engine. Amy stood in place, thinking of what the cops had called to them. "The three of you? …hey, wait a minute! That means me too!"
Tails was beginning to pilot the Cyclone forward by now. Amy wailed and ran after him.

*****
Knuckles looked around him in despair. "I didn't expect the inside of the mines to be like this…" he muttered. Knuckles had spent all of the previous day as well as today looking for the Master Emerald pieces. His search had brought him to Pumpkin Hill, where he had added another three shards to his backpack, then found a hatch that had brought him down here, into the mines. But the mines were almost totally flooded, and Knuckles had a thing about water. "This is going to be harder than I thought," he sighed, then listened closely to the ringing.

He turned his head upwards and saw that a piece had somehow become lodged in the roof. There was no way he could reach it from climbing and gliding, so he pulled his sunglasses down from his forehead and looked around. There had to be a hidden spring or something around somewhere… ahh, there it was. On top of the water wheel. Knuckles glided over to it, then climbed up the wall and jumped to the top. Walking over to the spring, he let himself be bounced into the air, and yanked the shard out of its hiding place as he dropped back to the floor. Knuckles placed it in his satchel, relief coming over him. There were only two more pieces left to find, other than the ones that Rouge had taken. Knuckles frowned again – the ringing in his head indicated that both pieces were underwater. Crud.

*****
"Stupid military! Stupid, stupid military!" Tails yelled, jumping the Cyclone just in time to avoid getting blown away by a missile fired by a jet that had shot overhead. There'd been about ten of them now that had taken a shot at him in the last half hour. "We're on your side!" Tails screamed out, shaking his fist at them. Amy was pretty unnerved too. She had been sitting in the back of this killing machine all the while, never knowing when a stray shot or missile might mean the end of her, or what the idiot stunt the driver up front was going to pull next. She was scared, and more importantly, she was missing Sonic. She wondered if her heroic hedgehog was okay as the Cyclone hovered over a large gap that had been blown into the bridge. Neither of them knew that the previous night, it had been Shadow running from the military on this very same bridge. But at that point, neither of them would have particularly cared either.
*****
Big the Cat looked up as the machine roared over him where he sat, fishing on the edge of the bridge. Strange. That… thing… looked a lot like the plane he'd used to escape from the Egg Carrier when he'd rescued Froggy. And the pilot looked like the fox who'd caught Froggy temporarily… Big reeled in his line, heaved his pole over his shoulder, and set off after them, his curiosity aroused.
*****
Knuckles gasped as he emerged from the water and shook his dreadlocks, spraying water everywhere. 'I must have made a wrong turn somewhere,' he figured, breathing in the glorious air that he'd been lacking the last few minutes. It had been a turn that had almost killed him though – he'd swum down this tunnel in search of an emerald shard, and when he'd grabbed it, he'd figured he was closer to the air at the other end than where he'd come in. He'd been correct, but had still barely made it. Pulling himself out of the water, he pulled his satchel around and placed the piece inside, then looked around. He didn't want to try that tunnel again anytime soon – he'd pressed his luck enough for one night already. But… there didn't appear to be any other way out of this shaft… Knuckles sighed. Maybe there was a weak spot in the wall, where he could burrow his way out with his shovel claws? That was risky – he could easily dig straight into a water filled shaft and drown himself. His eyes suddenly fell on a totem pole that was standing nearby. Something was hanging from it. Knuckles cautiously moved closer to inspect it. It was a necklace, with what seemed to be a breathing apparatus attached. Knuckles grinned – it was some kind of oxygen tank that would go around his neck! Now he could swim for a much longer period of time without having to surface for air. Excitedly, Knuckles slipped it on and dived back into the water. That last emerald shard was as good as his!
*****
Morning light shone on Station Square, the sun dealing its warm glow on Mobius as it rose. Tails warily peeked out from the alley that he and Amy were hiding in. Not a cop in sight. Tails breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they'd finally lost them. He turned around and climbed back into the Cyclone.
"All clear?" Amy asked him nervously.
Tails nodded. "All clear," he murmured, and started rummaging around in the back. Amy sighed in relief too, and jumped out to stretch her feet. Tails finally found what he wanted – a walkie talkie. He pushed the talk button, and spoke into it. "Sonic, come in!"
There was no reply for a moment – instead came the muffled sounds of G.U.N robots exploding. "Sonic?" Tails asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Sheesh, there always seems to be a lot of cops around when you don't need them!" came Sonic's reply. "Tails! Any new yet?" he asked.
Tails shook his head and pressed the talk button again. "For some reason, I'm not getting a signal from the six remaining Chaos Emeralds. Maybe Eggman took them into outer space!"
"Outer space?" Amy asked. Wow… she'd always wanted to go into space! Maybe she'd get a chance now! Her musings were interrupted by the clanking of the sewer cover at her feet being pushed up, and out of its hole. Oh no! Had the military tracked them down again?

To both her and Tails' relief, it was only the familiar snout of a red dreadlocked echidna that peeked out. "Knuckles!" Amy exclaimed, wiping her brow.
"Hey guys, long time no see!" Knuckles greeted them warily. He too had been running around all night. "I must have gotten lost in the mines. Finding the pieces of the Master Emerald was harder than I thought it would be." At least he only had to get the pieces that the bat girl had taken now.
Amy ran over and started trying to pull him out of the hole in the ground. He was standing directly in Tails' path! "Hey, where are you going?" whined Knuckles, grabbing onto the edge in alarm.
"Move aside, Knuckles!" Amy grunted, tugging at him.
Tails paid them little attention as he continued his conversation with Sonic. "I just found out that Eggman's having a transmitted conversation with the President!" he told his friend. "If we can get into the President's limo, then we can find out where Eggman's broadcasting from!"
"Okay, let's meet up there!" Sonic agreed, then signed off.

Tails pushed a button, and the legs of the Cyclone swung underneath the machine, wheels extending. He was tracking the President on Route 101, so it would be best to pursue in a car. Knuckles ducked as Tails pulled out and turned onto the road, then sped into high gear.
"Hey! Wait for me, Tails!" Amy cried, raising a hand in desperation.
Knuckles regarded her curiously. Could this girl be any more annoying? Then the sight of the damaged moon, slowly descending out of view caught his eyes. "Eggman did that?!??" he gaped.
Amy nodded. "Yeah…"
Knuckles stared for a minute, then turned around and pointed to his back. "Grab on."
Amy hesitated, then wrapped her arms around his waist reluctantly. Knuckles nodded. "Okay, hold on tight!" he ordered, leaping into the air and setting off to glide out of the city.
"Where are we going?" Amy asked.
"Back to where the Master Emerald was shattered," Knuckles replied. "That's the last place I saw Eggman, so maybe I can track him from there."
"I saw him yesterday at Prison Island…" Amy started. Knuckles turned his head to look at her.
"Do you really want to go back to that place?" he asked.
Amy shut up. He had made his point.

*****
The President's limo sped down the interstate, away from Station Square and towards the secret safe house that had been arranged especially for him. The President sat inside and stared glumly out at the streets whizzing by as his secretary gave him the scoop.
"Since the incident last night, the entire world has been in a state of panic. Our financial services have been impacted, and our satellite communications are down. An emergency meeting has been called with the secretary of defense at noon. Mr. President, this is a major crisis."
Now THAT he knew without having to be told. He shook his head. "Spare me the details," he told her, turning back to the TV screen in front of him. "What is it exactly that you want? Dr. Robotnik?"
The evil genius' distorted image laughed confidently on the screen. "I know that you are a very busy man, Mr. President, so I'll get right to the point!" he cackled. "My demands are simple. Surrender completely to the Eggman Empire, and make no attempts to resist! Otherwise…" the doctor grinned evilly, pausing to let his words sink in.
"Otherwise…?" the President prodded him.
"Otherwise," Robotnik continued, "your country will cease to exist! You have just under 9 hours left to respond!"

The President sighed and shut his eyes. What other choice did he have? He looked up when he heard a cry from outside: "No way!" He turned his head to gaze out the window and saw the world renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog running alongside the limo. He grinned at the President, and leapt in through the sunroof, Tails right behind him.
"Sonic!" the Eggman spluttered, unable to do anything as Sonic switched the TV off. "Eggman Empire? Yeah right!" he snorted as Tails started investigating.
The President stared at the two in alarm. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. "What have you done?"
"Don't worry, Mr. President!" Sonic reassured him. "Everything's under control!" The hedgehog turned to his partner. "Got it Tails?"
Tails grinned as he victoriously held up a floppy disk, containing the transcript of the conversation the President had just had with their nemesis. "I got it!" he exclaimed. "He's transmitting from the space colony ARK!"
Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "Okay! Let's move!" he yelled before jumping out through the sunroof.
"Wait up, Sonic!" Tails called, jumping out after him.
"Hey! Wait!" the President ordered them, but the two were already gone. The secretary, failing to notice any of this, called for her boss' attention again. "Mr. President – we're receiving an incoming signal from our agent…"

**Chapter 9 – I will not let him take it over**

"Eggman Empire? Yeah, right!" Sonic snorted, then the monitor went blank, the signal lost.
"Blast!" Robotnik yelled, bringing his fist down on the computer console and stomping around in frustration. Shadow turned away with his arms folded firmly across his chest. That blue hedgehog was beginning to annoy him.
"What are you so upset about?" came a chirpy voice as Rouge walked into the room, returning from whatever business she had been up to. When neither answered, Rouge shrugged to herself and changed the topic. "Well, that was certainly impressive! You've managed to create turmoil on the whole planet!" she announced. "Does this mean that we now control the planet, and can do as we please?"
Shadow shook his head, staring off into space. "At this rate, the cannon will take too long to charge up. To unleash its full potential, we need all seven Chaos Emeralds."
"Where in the world have you been?" asked the Eggman, angrily turning towards Rouge.
Rouge looked confused. "Something happen?" she asked, perplexed.
"Our threats fell on death ears," Shadow sighed, still looking away from the other two in the room.
Rouge grinned to herself. The manic depressive and the rage filled mechalomaniac – Shadow and Eggman made quite a comical pair at times. "Look at you, throwing a tantrum like a little kid!" she smirked. "How totally embarrassing!"

Robotnik glared at Rouge. They had some unfinished business yet. "Don't forget your side of the deal, bat girl! We only have six of the seven Chaos Emeralds that you promised to deliver to me!" he reminded her menacingly. "So, where's my emerald?"
Rouge pulled out a newspaper clipping she'd come across, knowing that question would eventually come up. "Here," she offered. "I found this!"
The doctor gave it an indifferent glance – it was dated several months back, so probably held little relevant information to him. Then the pictures beside the text caught his attention – they clearly showed a Chaos Emerald, held in the possession of Sonic's pesky little sidekick!

"Why didn't you show me this before?!?" he asked, snatching the paper away from her. Shadow turned around in interest as Robotnik started reading aloud. "'Station Square saved from a life threatening missile attack." The Eggman paused for a minute to mope again. He had been so close to reducing the city to rubble! Grunting, he continued reading. "The city has awarded its prize to the boy who saved us all. Miles 'Tails' Prower was given the Chaos Emerald at a ceremony held at City Hall.'" Robotnik looked up at his lackies as he set the paper aside. So. THAT was where the last emerald was! "This makes things a whole lot easier!" he told Shadow and Rouge, giving his orders. "Hurry! Go back to Earth and find him! I want that emerald!" Then he left, to run some tests on the cannon.
"Did you get that?" Rouge asked Shadow.
Shadow didn't answer. Instead he simply muttered, "Soon enough, Maria…" and walked towards the door. Rouge stared after him. What was with that guy, anyway? She looked around. Both Shadow and Eggman had left the room, so she pulled back her glove and spoke into her communicator. "This is Rouge reporting," she said softly, incase either of her two 'colleagues' were nearby. "I have yet to confirm whether or not Shadow is the Ultimate Lifeform or not. I shall continue my research and have a follow up report soon. Just a reminder… don't forget about my jewels!" Rouge smiled to herself, then headed for the exit. She had a fox to track down.

*****
Tails pulled into the alley that he, Knuckles and Amy had been in only a little earlier. But to his and Sonic's surprise, both Amy and Knuckles had disappeared. The two friends looked at each other in confusion. "Where'd they go?" Tails wondered, scratching his head.
Sonic looked at him quizzically. "Are you sure this is the right place?" he asked.
Tails nodded hesitantly. "Well… pretty sure…" He reached for his walkie talkie and pushed the button. "Amy, are you there?" he asked.
"Tails! We've found Eggman's base!" came the reply.
Tails and Sonic looked at each other in excitement. Eggman's base?
"Where are you?" Sonic asked.
Knuckles came on the radio then. "We're someone in the Sand Ocean zone. You can follow the signal from this walkie talkie, right?"
Tails fiddled with the controls in the Cyclone, and brought up a radar screen with a blinking green light. "Got it!" Tails exclaimed.
Sonic jumped in the back. "Okay, stay where you are, guys! We'll meet you there!"
Knuckles sighed. "Okay, well hurry up. I wanna get a piece of the Eggman too, ya know. Over and out."
"Hold on tight Sonic!" Tails called, converting the Cyclone back into the Tornado. "Here we go!"
*****
Unbeknownst to either Sonic or Tails, they had a tail as they soared through the sky. The Batmobile roared along Route 280, following the Tornado's trek through the air. Rouge spun the wheel frantically, dodging a tour bus here, a taxi cab there, speeding through tunnels and around curves, desperately trying to keep up. But eventually, she ran out of highway, and found she was now going in the opposite direction the plane was. Sighing, she spoke into her communicator. "Shadow! They're in that blue plane, spotted at 10 o' clock!" she reported.
"Copy that. I'm in pursuit," came the reply.
*****
Shadow had blazed through the region that was filled with hills shaped like jack-o-lanterns, unknowing that the red dreadlocked echidna friend of his rival had been here just yesterday, searching for shards of the Master Emerald. Grinding down rails and bouncing up hover-springs, Shadow was a black (and yellow at times) blur as he progressed through the area. But he too was forced to come to a halt when he reached a cliff that went nowhere. He turned around in a circle, scanning for another platform he could jump to from his current position. But there was nothing – he'd reached a dead end. He looked up at the plane he'd been trailing, and noticed for the first time that it was heading towards the desert.

"Doctor," he spoke into his walkie talkie, "they're heading straight for us. What should we do?"
Robotnik was quick with his reply. "Just sit tight," he told him. "I've got them on radar. There's no way they can escape! I don't know what they have planned, but I'll be sure to give them a warm welcome…"

*****
"Inside that pyramid?" Sonic asked, peering out at the towering ancient structure in the distance. Knuckles nodded. "I saw Eggman go inside the pyramid. And more importantly, I saw that bat girl go with him." The echidna punched his fist into the other. He was eager to catch up with her and reclaim what belonged to him. "You saw them too, right?" he asked, turning to Amy.
"Well yeah…" Amy nodded.
Sonic sighed as he stared at the pyramid. 'It always seems to be about pyramids,' he thought to himself glumly. 'First Sandopolis, then the one in the Mystic Ruins, and now this.' Sonic hated pyramids. They were all the same – seen one, you seen them all. They were all dark and gloomy and full of booby traps. But still, if that was Eggman's base…

"We should probably be able to get into space from there," Sonic realized. "I don't know what this space colony's all about, but I'm gonna find and kick their empirial butts!"
"Right on!" Knuckles smiled confidently.
"I'll go and find the entrance!" Tails declared, striding off in the Cyclone. Knuckles, Sonic and Amy all followed at a distance as he jumped from pillar to pillar, platform to platform, homing his laser blaster at the G.U.N. robots and badniks that he came across. Tails recognized the robotic coconut-throwing monkeys – it was a definite sign that they were closing in on Eggman's headquarters. Tails was determined to help out. Amy had stolen his thunder when he'd gone to free Sonic, and the hedgehog hero who had taken him under his arm hadn't been around to see his victory against Robotnik in Station Square. This time around, Tails was determined to prove to Sonic that he could be counted on.

*****
Sonic smashed the last robot in the room apart and came to a halt. It struck him that the robots around here looked quite a lot like the one that had freed Amy from her cell aboard the Egg Carrier, E-102 "Gamma". 'Must be a new model,' he thought to himself. "That egghead sure loves mechanical things, doesn't he?" he grunted, turning back to his travel mates. Tails nodded, not really paying attention to him, but moving forward to inspect the door ahead of them. "I bet he's got one or two spaceships around here!" Sonic continued, looking towards Knuckles and Amy.

The group was deep inside the base now – almost at the center of it. Tails had cleared the path through to a side entrance, and Sonic had then lead them to the door that lay ahead of them now. Which was locked, Tails realized. "We're going to need a key to open this door," Tails informed his friends, then spotted that there were keyholes not only in the nose of the Eggman logo plastered on the door, but in each of the eyes too. "Or three…" he corrected himself.
"Couldn't we just blast through?" asked Amy, who was quite spooked by this building. She was eager to see some serious damage done to it.
Tails shook his head. "See this?" he asked, rapping on the stonework. "It's graphite. Seriously strong stuff. The Cyclone's lasers wouldn't even make a dent in this!"
"No problem!" Sonic assured him. "We can find the keys, right Knuckles?"
Knuckles looked up with a frown. "Why do I have to find the keys?" he complained. "Can't we just find another way in?"
Tails shook his head again. "Too time consuming. It might take hours to find another way in. If there is one. AND it's unlocked."
Knuckles sighed. Looked like it was up to him then. Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "We're counting on you, buddy!" he winked. "The world's greatest treasure hunter!"

******
Knuckles jumped out of the water and shook the water off his dreadlocks. "What kind of idiot leaves keys in the water anyway?" he asked himself as he shoved the two he'd found submerged in his backpack. They were starting to slightly rust already. 'Overweight fool,' he thought, climbing up to the tower in the center of the area he was in. "Death Chamber" a sign had greeted him, when he'd burrowed his way inside, in search of keys. He had what he'd come for now though, so he started towards the hole he'd made in the wall. An evil and loud cackle stopped him in his tracks and sent a chill down his spine. "Who's there?" he growled, swirling around. He gasped at the spectre that had materialized in front of him - a large white figure with a mouth even wider than Eggman's. "What?!? A ghost?!?" Knuckles asked in surprise, taking a cautious step backwards. Just as well he did too, as King Boom Boo leapt forward and took a bite at him. Knuckles barely avoided him. "Yow!" he cried, leaping backwards again. This guy didn't mess around. Knuckles almost fled then, but then shook his head and stood his ground. He wasn't about to let some big spook scare him.

Knuckles studied the ghoul. It didn't have any apparent weaknesses visible to him – unless it was that huge mouth, but he certainly didn't want to go near it. His view went to a much smaller ghost sitting behind the King. It was holding an hour glass for some reason. Maybe that held the key to his defeat. Knuckles ran around the tower, away from the ghost that was tailing him, but skidded to a halt when Boo turned around and came face to face with him. Knuckles yelped in surprise and turned just in time to avoid the gaping mouth of the ghoul. Knuckles turned and ran again, dodging blue fireballs that were hurled at him. Boo changed directions again, but Knuckles had expected it this time, and had turned direction before the ghost knew what had happened. Knuckles wished he had Sonic's speed right now. Fortunately for him though, his own was sufficient. The echidna came up behind Boo, and smashed his fists into the smaller ghost that held the hourglass. The ghost vanished into thin air, the timepiece flipping upside down and opening the hatches in the ceiling. Sunlight streamed into the room, weakening and shrinking Boo. The ghost yowled in pain, then dove into the floor and disappeared. Knuckles could see where he was though – a shadow crawled along the floor away from him. "You can run, but you can't hide!" Knuckles growled, running towards it. The shadow seemed to sense his movement, and shifted up into the wall in the center of the tower. Knuckles grunted. "Crafty thing, aren't you?" he muttered, leaping onto the wall, directly on top of the shadow, then bashing his claws in on top of it. Boo jumped out of the wall and fled around the tower, but Knuckles wsan't going to let him get away that easily. Racing around in the other direction, he relled back his fist, and slammed it into the surprised ghost's mouth. Boo howled in pain, then ceased to exist. Knuckles breathed a sigh of relief. Time to rendezvous with the others.

*****
Big strolled into the chamber just in time to see a large door opening, Sonic stretching, and Knuckles wiping his brow. "That was pretty rough," the echidna murmured.
"We did it!" Tails exclaimed, pumping his fist. "Let's go Amy!" he said, signaling the pink hedgehog. Amy nodded and jumped forward, but came to a terrified halt when she heard a familiar voice. "You little thieves!" Robotnik sneered from the opposite side of the room they'd just gained access to. "Did you really think you'd get out of here alive?"
'Oh yeah! Time for some action!' Sonic thought to himself, taking a fighting stance. "Come and get some, Eggman!" he goaded him.
Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Big were already running towards a nearby door. "Sonic!" Tails called, concerned for his friend's welfare.
Sonic waved him on. "Just leave it to me!" he yelled at his sidekick. Tails hesitated, then ran after the others. Sonic could take care of himself, after all.
"This time, I'll take your lives as well as the Chaos Emerald!" Robotnik declared. "I call on you to take care of these pests! Come out, my servant!" he ordered.

Sonic wasn't quite prepared for what happened next – from the center of the room, in the hole of the ring-shaped platform that he stood on, a massive hand rose out of the depths and grabbed the ledge, nearly crushing the hedgehog. "Whoa!" he yelped as he jumped aside. Then out of the quicksand rose the large, animate statue made of stone that the arm was attached to. The Egg Golem. From the doorway on the other side of the room, Robotnik chuckled at his own cleverness. Sonic glared at him. "That's all you got?" he asked. "Some stupid over-sized block o' stone?" Robotnik glared back. "Go my pet!" he cried. "Crush that blue hedgehog, Sonic!" The golem acted, slamming its fist down on the platform that Sonic stood. But he'd already made a run for it, dodging the other fist too, and ran around the platform. As he came up to the rear of the monstrosity, the platforms sticking out of the golem's back caught his attention. The ends shone a bright yellow, making them pretty hard to miss. Sonic's eyes followed them upwards, until he noticed the large canister attached to the top of Egg Golem's head. The hedgehog grinned himself – once again, the doctor had made the fatal mistake of making "the perfect weapon to destroy his nemesis with," then painted its weak spots with neon colours. Sonic leapt into the air, curled himself into a ball, then powered up a homing attack. A flash of blue was all that was visible as Sonic smashed into each of the platforms, then slammed into his target at the pinnacle. Egg Golem was devastated by this – it frantically spun around in a circle, smoke pouring from it. Sonic landed back on the platform, then jumped into the air again screaming a war cry that sounded something like, "TEEEEEEEIIIIIII-YAAAAAAHH!!!!" He pumped his legs forward and kicked off the canister, did a somersault, and catapulted backwards through the doorway that his friends had run, leaving the Golem to go haywire. Robotnik moaned, then moved to pursue his foe. "When Sonic struck his head, he must have broken the restraining mechanism!" he complained to himself. "What a piece of junk!"

'Piece of junk?' The Egg Golem was still functioning enough to hear that, and turned towards its former master. With the restraining canister now sinking somewhere in the quicksand below, there was nothing stopping it from reaching out to grab him. The Eggman looked up just in time to get out of the way. "Nooooooo!" he whined. 'Why does this always happen to me?' he sulked. He would have to destroy his own creation if he was to survive, and all the while Sonic was getting away!

Robotnik was angry now. How dare this revolting robot get in his way? Luckily for him, he had been sitting in the Eggmobile during this confrontation. That, at least, remained loyal to his command. He slammed his hand down on the fire button, and let the bazooka blast at the golem. He knew the weak spots in the monster, and started chipping away large pieces of stone in the chest of the beast. Golem retaliated by sweeping its hands at him. The doctor jumped onto the section of platform that Sonic had stood on previously, as the golem's bashing it had pushed it down a bit. The hands harmlessly swept over him as he continued shooting at the chest. A few stones fell away, then he saw what he was looking for. The dynamite packs he'd installed, in case of an emergency. Quickly, lock on with the laser blaster… Golem saw what he was trying to do, and slammed his fists down on the platforms to either side of him, then charged forward with his head. Robotnik gasped and tried to get out of the way, but didn't quite make it. The Egg Golem struck him a terrible blow, damaging several systems as it did so. Robotnik retaliated by firing the laser blaster, striking the dynamite packs. They blew, taking out large chunks of stone as they did so. The Egg Golem went down, and didn't come back up. Robotnik wiped his brow. "That was too close…" he muttered. The Eggmobile was damaged, and worse, Sonic had gotten away… hadn't he? Surely he must have by now! The doctor checked the computers.

*****
"Green light for launch! Launch in 10 seconds! 10! 9! 8! 7…"
Sonic once more thanked the powers that were that he had super speed as he sprinted up the gangplank and dove through the door of the shuttle. He barely made it through as the gangplank moved away, the rocket fired up, and lifted into space.

**Chapter 10 – Shot into space**

"Hi doctor! How are things going?" Rouge asked, speaking into her communicator.
"Not so good," Robotnik sighed. "They managed to escape – I think they got out in the shuttle."
Rouge's eyes went wide. "What do you mean they escaped?" she asked with fake incredulosity. She shook her head. "Doesn't matter – I'll go after them myself! Can you tell me the password for the main space colony computer?" she asked innocently.
The doctor paused hesitantly. "What for?" he asked, still not quite trusting her.
"So I can turn on the defense measures, of course! Why else would I want it?"
"Yes… of course, Rouge." Robotnik shook his head. This girl had stolen three… no, four Chaos Emeralds for him, and helped him track down another. He was just being paranoid. "Okay, the password is MA-RI-A…"

*****
Sonic stared out the window in awe. "So this is the space colony where Eggman's hiding!" he exclaimed, gazing out at it. Amy, Big and Knuckles also regarded it with quite an amount of curiosity.
"Check out the underside of it, Sonic," Knuckles pointed. The cannon is like a nose – the bottom of the ARK looks like Eggman's face!"
Sonic nodded grimly. "Yeah, just like the Death Egg." The hedgehog remembered the massive satellite that he and Tails had destroyed together, years ago. That had been his first trip into space…
Tails looked up in astonishment from working on the Cyclone. He'd been poking around in the cargo bay, and found several crates containing items that would make pretty nifty upgrades to his weapon. "But… that's impossible!" he exclaimed, running to the window to look for himself. Tails scratched his head in confusion. "But… the ARK is over fifty years old! How could it have possibly been designed to look like Eggman?"

The group was so caught up in this puzzle that they failed to notice the large shard of rock that the autopilot had not picked up on. The laser blast that had torn a new crater into the moon had sent debris flying in all directions, creating an asteroid belt around Mobius, and the ARK. The autopilot was programmed only to go straight towards the ARK though, and not initiate evasive maneuvers, so the roof of the shuttle banged into the rock, knocking them over and slightly off course. All aboard exclaimed their surprise as they were knocked off their feet, and boxes flew all about the cockpit. Tails sat up in surprise and blinked. "Is everyone alright?" he asked, rubbing his rear. Knuckles had landed right by the main controls and computers, and gasped when a blinking red light caught his attention. "Oh no!" he groaned. "The hatch door's open!" He punched the button to shut it, hoping he wasn't too late.
"Don't sweat it Knuckles!" Sonic said, trying to calm him down. "The only thing in the cargo hatch is those Master Emera…" Sonic stopped when he saw several green pieces of stone floating in space amongst the asteroids. Whoops.
"What do you mean, 'Don't sweat it?!?'" Knuckles asked, getting angry. He hadn't busted his gut collecting those pieces just to lose them again! He started punching buttons all over the cockpit in desperation. "Stop this thing right now!"
"Hey! What are you doing?!?" Sonic asked, struggling to his feet. "We're gonna crash if you keep that up!"
Knuckles ignored him and pulled another lever. Sonic's eyes went wide with horror. "Oh no!" he screamed. "DON'T TOUCH THAT LEVER!!!"
Too late. The space shuttle started spinning out of control, throwing its passengers all around the cockpit, screaming in terror.

*****
Rouge stepped into the main control room and started tapping away at the keyboard. "Tricking that old doctor is too easy!" she laughed, getting the main entry screen up. "Okay, time to get to work! Password is MA-RI-A…" Rouge paused. "Maria, hmmm? I've heard that name somewhere before…" she muttered. Shrugging, she started searching through the files until she found what she wanted. "Here it is! Data on the Ultimate Lifeform!" Rouge studied the specs and info, and then came across a picture. A picture that made her jaw drop. "This… this can't be right!" she exclaimed, staring at it wide-eyed. "What is Shadow anyway?!?"
Just then, a message flashed up on the screen. 'Incoming signal from the Master Emerald.' Rouge couldn't help but smirk. That poor echidna just couldn't keep a hold of his jewels, could he? "Looks like I'll just have to take the last pieces!" she said, switching off the computer and running for the door.
*****
"What's up with that knucklehead anyway? Trying to take over the shuttle?!?" Sonic ran a hand through his spines, trying to smooth them out. "I thought we were toast for sure!" He turned towards the echidna, expecting an argument, but to his surprise, Knuckles had disappeared. "What? Where's he gone now?" Sonic grumbled.
"Looks like he bailed…" Tails shrugged. He really had a thing about that Master Emerald.
Amy changed the subject, peering around at their surroundings. "This place sure looks deserted! Dusty too!" she said, crinkling her nose. The place hadn't been cleaned in decades. Big sneezed, further emphasizing her point.
"This place was shut down over 50 years ago because of a terrible accident," Tails told them, bringing up what info he'd found on the ARK on the Cyclone's computer. "The first Bernoulli spherical space station, called 'ARK.' Before it was shut down, it was the most advanced research center of its kind, but looking at it now…"
"Now it's an abandoned ARK, wouldn't you say?" murmured Amy. 'Not so spherical any more,' she thought to herself privately.
"There's not much time left before Eggman fires that weapon," Sonic reminded them. "Enough with the history lesson – let's get down to business! Let's find that cannon and destroy it"
"Right!" Tails grinned and nodded. All the years he'd spent at Sonic's side had caused the speedy hedgehog's love of action and adventure to rub off on him too.

Amy and Sonic leaned in close as Tails brought up a picture of the ARK's super-structure up on his computer. "Someone built this place to be super-reinforced and impenetrable to outside attacks. So, we'll have to make our move from inside," Tails deduced, opening a case to reveal a shining yellow stone. Both Sonic and Amy looked at him in confusion. The Chaos Emerald Tails had been awarded was still visible in the backseat of the Cyclone. So… what was this?
"Isn't that a Chaos Emerald?" Amy asked, her eyes betraying her confusion. Tails smiled. Perfect!
"It looks like it, doesn't it?" he smiled. "But it's actually a fake I made after researching the real emerald! It's designed to reverse the energy of the Chaos Emeralds!"
Sonic nodded with new understanding. His sidekick had most certainly become a valuable asset to the Freedom Fighters. Few would have had the insight, much less the ability to create a device capable of reversing the energies of the emeralds. The Chaos Emeralds, whilst they had many times aided Sonic in defeating Robotnik by transforming him into Super Sonic, were deadly weapons in the wrong hands, not to be taken lightly. "How does it work?" he asked curiously.
"It has the same wavelengths and properties, but is less powerful than the real one," Tails explained. "It looks so real that even a machine can't tell the difference!" He handed the stone to Sonic, who carefully accepted it. "Sonic, I'll find the power supply and destroy it. You have to find the main control room, okay? That's where the other emeralds should be, powering the cannon."
Sonic nodded. "So the plan is, I throw in the fake emerald after the power's shut down?" he asked, to be sure he understood the plan. Tails nodded, then the two set off down the corridor, Sonic racing off to the left, and Tails stomping away in the Cyclone to the right. Amy glared after them, and threw her arms up in the air in frustration. "I hate you!" she called after them. "You guys always leave me behind and have all the fun!" At least Big was around to keep her company this time. But when she turned around, she found that the large cat had left too, gone to explore his surroundings. Amy was left alone – and vulnerable – again.

*****
Knuckles scanned his eyes over the Meteor Herd that was inside the ARK's oxygen bubble again, and sighed. The Master Emerald shards had been blasted inside it, and the auto-defense mechanisms had immediately worked quickly to heal the damage done. He had already grabbed two pieces from where they floated in mid-air amongst the meteors, now he found himself on a platform where some kind of a tower had been built. Why, and what its purpose was remained a mystery to Knuckles. He could care less though. He could tell that a piece of broken Master Emerald had worked its way into it, and that was all that mattered to him. Walking around the tower, he looked up at it for closer examination. It was square in shape, with supporting beams running around the edges at the top and halfway down. At the bottom, there was a retractable floor, which remained in place at the moment, covering up lord only knows what. Knuckles could feel a good amount of heat from there though, and guessed that it housed something that was on fire. The platform was housed on a large asteroid, and had several compartments on the outside, underneath where the floor hid the source of the sweltering heat. And it was one of these compartments that housed the emerald shard he was after. "But how to get to it…?" he mused, placing a glove up against the steel wall. No way he could dig through it. He could have blasted through the wall, but he didn't have any explosives handy… or did he? Looking around, his eyes came to fall on one of the meteorechs that were dotted around the area. There was something… unnatural about it. Knuckles walked over to it cautiously, to take a look at it. There were blinking lights and wires visible on the outside of the thing. This wasn't just any old hunk of rock. Someone had built something into these meteorechs. They were partially mechanical. Acting on a hunch, Knuckles grunted with effort as he lifted up the object, then hurled it at the compartment wall. There was a flash of light and a fireball as the meteorech exploded, and Knuckles shielded his eyes for a moment. When the dust settled, Knuckles grinned victoriously. The shard was his for the taking.

Placing the piece of broken rock in the safety of his satchel, he looked scoped the area again. The ringing in his head was getting louder – the remaining pieces were on the move. Knuckles looked up and saw something moving in the sky… 'No wait… the space,' he corrected himself. Climbing to the top of the tower to get a better look, he recognized what he was looking at as Rouge flew closer, unaware of his presence in the area. "Bat girl!" he yelled at her.

*****
Rouge hated to do it. But she had to. To blow her cover at this point, even just to Knuckles, could have disastrous consequences. So, she plucked the last emerald shard she'd been able to track down from the place it floated, hid it safely inside her backpack, and landed on the opposite side of the beam to the red furred Echidna. "Long time no see, treasure hunter," she greeted him with a smile. "Did you find my emerald?"
Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "That's a good one, your emerald!" he frowned. "Talking to you is a waste of time!"
Rouge leapt to the retractable floor. "Very well then, if that's the way you want to be, then I'll just take them from you!" she shrugged, as if it was as simple as just saying those words.
Knuckles leapt down after her, and put up his fists. "Hand over those Master Emerald pieces; give them to me!" he snarled, then ran forward, fists flying. Rouge stepped aside and put her foot out in front of Knuckles. Knuckles gasped and tried to stop himself, but to no avail. He tripped, and over he went. Knuckles jumped to his feet and glared at her. He screamed bloody murder, and leapt at her again. This time Rouge jumped out of the way and let him turn around to face her again. Before any more could happen, the floor started retracting into the walls. Both Knuckles and Rouge jumped to the safety of the beams, then looked down into the depths. Both were equally horrified at what they saw – a pit full of boiling lava.

The two looked at each other with the same disturbed look on their faces. They had been that close to falling to an extremely painful and gruesome death… Then the anger returned to their eyes. "Stop fooling around and give me back MY emerald!" They both yelled in unison, then stared at each other.
"What are you talking about?!?" Rouge exclaimed. "You call yourself a hunter, attacking a lady?!? Shame on you!"
"What kind of lady goes around stealing gems anyway?" Knuckles asked, pointing an accusing mitt at her.
Rouge pointed right back at him, taking a step forward. "Those belong to me…" she started, then lost her footing, and slipped from the platform. She screamed as she fell backwards, towards the bubbling magma below. She shut her eyes and waited for her to hit… then she felt herself stop in midair, and opened her eyes in surprise. 'What?'

Knuckles strained with effort, hanging upside down from the beam by his feet and clinging onto Rouge's hand tightly with both gloves, his batlike stance appeared more suited to herself, Rouge considered as she let the strong echidna pull her back upwards. Knuckles grunted as he heaved Rouge up beside him, then found himself staring right into her eyes as she looked right back at him. The two maintained eye contact for only a few seconds before both leapt backwards as if they'd been burned. This time, Rouge was careful to keep her footing. "Keep your hands off me!" she shouted, trying to get a hold of her breath. That had been quite a minute she'd just lived… and almost died through.
"Is that how you thank someone who saved your life?" Knuckles asked incredulously. He thought he deserved at least a little gratitude for risking his own neck with that stunt.
"Saving my life, don't think I owe you anything!" Rouge snorted, wishing the butterflies in her stomach would stop flapping about. "You just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you? That's why you saved me!"
Knuckles regarded her coldly. This girl was quite obviously deranged. "Think what you what, I was saving the Master Emerald!" he told her. Well, his instinct had been to save that, but her too…
Rouge shook her head, then pulled her backpack around and opened it. "No matter what you say, it sounds crazy!" she sighed, then pulled out the emerald shards and tossed them to Knuckles' feet. The echidna was unable to contain his surprise. "Wha… what are you doing?" he gaped. Was this a trick?
"Just take them!" Rouge frowned, folding her arms across her chest and turning away. "They stink, like echidnas do!"
Knuckles rolled his eyes as he pulled the pieces he had located out of his satchel. "If that's what you thought, you should have just said so in the first place!" he muttered, as he gathered all the pieces together. There was a flash of green light as they fused together, and then the Master Emerald stood between Knuckles and Rouge, just as it did in their first meeting. Knuckles ran a hand over it in relief. It was whole again – not a single piece missing. "finally," he sighed as he placed his hand on the top, and let it shrink down to a size small enough to fit back in his satchel. He looked up at Rouge, who sensed he was staring at her, and turned. "What?" she asked, a tone of annoyance apparent in her voice.
Knuckles looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry… if I hurt you…" he said, then remembered why he was here. Eggman! That cannon! He'd better go help Sonic and Tails! He gave her half a wave, then turned and ran back the way he came. Rouge smiled. "We should get going," she whispered, then ran the other way, pausing only once to look back at the departing echidna that had saved her life.

*****
"What is Rouge doing anyway?" Robotnik asked, peering at the security cameras from where he sat in his pyramid base. He had seen Sonic and his peewee pep squad enter the ARK, and then all head off in separate directions. Shadow said nothing, but turned his attention to a readout from one of the computers. The doctor peered at it, and a look of surprise came across his face. "That's odd… this is getting a readout from two separate Chaos Emeralds!" The Eggman pondered the possibilities of this. Perhaps… perhaps the fox boy had been able to construct a fake one, to try and confuse him? He smirked and stroked his moustache. Well, he was onto their little game. "Did they really think they could trick me with that fake emerald?" he mused. Shadow again said nothing, but strode towards the space transporter. The doctor held up his hand. "Wait Shadow! I'm the one who should be telling them the end is near, not you!" Shadow obediently halted, but not without a slight sense of annoyance. He wanted to get at that blue hedgehog. Robotnik climbed into the Eggmobile and pulled his goggles down over his eyes. "Now is the time to end this long drawn out battle, once and for all, and to declare myself the world's greatest genius, ever!" he declared, glancing at his colleague. "If anything should happen to me, I'm counting on you to finish the job, Shadow!" he told him, then moved onto the pd on the floor, and let the purple teleportation rays surround him. Shadow nodded at his departing form. Oh, he would finish the job alright, whether the doctor was put out of commission or not. Soon, it would all be over. 'Soon,' he told himself. He waited a moment, then stepped onto pad and waited to also be teleported. Shadow had his own agenda, and he was going to make sure that he followed it.
*****
"Darn! Why do they always leave a sweet little innocent girl like me all alone?" Amy wondered aloud, kicking her foot against the wall she was leaning on. Robotnik wondered that too. "Can I help you with something, young lady?" he asked, making his presence aware to her. The young hedgehog turned around and barely stopped herself from screaming when she saw the laser blaster pointed straight at her face. "Dr. Eggman!" she gasped.
The doctor grinned at her evilly. "I see my reputation recedes me. If you value your life, you will tell me where Sonic and Tails are!"
*****
Tails was in the main engine room, blasting anything that blinked or moved. He'd been rather annoyed to find that there were homing missiles awaiting anyone who dared to try and sabotage the machinery. But the Cyclone's lasers made short work of them, as well as vital machinery parts. He nodded with satisfaction as the generator shut down. "Tails! I've found the main control room!" came Sonic's voice over the walkie talkie. Tails wiped the sweat from his brow, and replied. "Good, I've shut down the main generator! Tell me what you see!" he requested.
"Umm… let's see here…" Tails could almost see Sonic surveying his surroundings. "Okay, there's a main computer console, and above that there's a pillar with a glass covering over it. There's seven slots in the pillar, and six of the Chaos Emeralds are in them."
Tails considered this. "Is there a button on the console to slide the glass out of the way?" he asked.
Sonic backed up to look at the console, and saw one labeled, 'cover.' "Found it, Tails!" he nodded.
"Push it, Sonic."
Sonic pushed the button, and the glass covering slid aside. The Chaos Emeralds were now within his reach. "Bingo, pal!" he grinned, reaching for the jewels. "I'll grab the Chaos Emeralds…"
Tails gasped in alarm. "Sonic, wait!" he yelled. "They're giving off too much energy right now! You could overload the machine if you tried to take them!"
Sonic paused and frowned. He had no urge to roast himself. "So what should I do?" he asked.
"Got the fake?" Tails asked.
Sonic glanced at the jewel in his other paw. "Yup," he replied.
"Good." Tails breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, now put that emerald…"
A voice over the walkie talkie interrupted him. "I have Amy Rose!" it crowed. Eggman! "Tails! Tell Sonic to meet you back at the research facility right now!"
*****
"Sonic!" Sonic frowned at the walkie talkie. The energy field was wrecking havoc on it – he was having trouble making out what was being said. He knew that the voice he'd heard was definitely Eggman though. "Sonic!" Tails cried, static almost drowning him out. "Amy's been…" then the voice was silenced, and nothing but static was audible. Sonic pushed the talk button.
"I didn't copy that, Tails! What's happened to Amy? Tails?!?"
No answer. Sonic muttered something nasty and looked up at the Chaos Emeralds, sitting right in front of him. The urge to take them and run was almost overwhelming, but he heeded Tails' warning. He looked at the fake Chaos Emerald and sighed. Where had Tails wanted him to put it? Logic would say in the remaining slot, but what if he was wrong? Everything could go haywire and blow up in his face! No, better he go kick Eggman's overly large can first, then get Tails' advice on what to do. He just hoped he wouldn't be too late…
"What am I talking about?" he asked himself. "They call me Sonic for a reason – I don't know the meaning of late!"
*****
Big looked up in surprise as Sonic rushed past him, a look of determination on his face. 'He must be in a hurry,' Big figured. 'He didn't even stop to say hello!' The cat shrugged to himself. Oh well. He had things to do too. Big still wasn't quite sure as to why they'd come up here into space, but the view sure was great. He walked along the corridor for a little longer, until his sharp yellow eyes noticed an entrance that had been cleverly disguised to look like part of the wall. "Hmmm… think I'll see what's behind this door…"
*****
Tails whirled around from his seat in the Cyclone as the door behind him opened, then sighed in relief as he saw Sonic enter the room. Now things would be okay. Sonic on the other hand, had a grim look on his face. Eggman was in his mech in the center of the room, a laser blaster in his hand aimed straight at Amy's frightened face. He put his hands on his hips and regarded his nemesis.
"Let's get down to business first, shall we, Sonic?" the doctor asked. "Hand over the Chaos Emerald, slowly, and then we'll talk about your girlfriend. That is, if you really care for her!"
Sonic felt his cheeks burn. Amy? His girlfriend?!? He very almost turned his back and told Eggman to shoot her, but with a great amount of willpower, managed to swallow his pride and consider his options instead. An idea came to him – 'Handing over the fake emerald, I can kill two birds with one stone!' Sonic turned to Tails, who instantly caught onto his idea, and nodded with a small smile. Sonic nodded too, and pulled the yellow stone out from behind his back. "Want this, huh?" Sonic asked, tossing it idly up and down in one hand.
Robotnik nodded. "Put the emerald down right there in front of me, and back off." He practically ground up the last two words as he said them, as a warning for the hedgehog not to try anything funny.

Sonic casually walked forward, a false look of fear on his face. "You've turned into a big time villain, doctor!" he said with mock wonder, voice dripping with sarcasm. Robotnik didn't reply, but instead watched as Sonic walked forward, then leant down to place the emerald on the floor. 'NOW!' He thought, punching a button on the dashboard.

Not even Sonic was fast enough to escape this trap – a glass tube came down from the roof, capturing him inside. A look of surprise came across his face. Eggman had outsmarted him!
"You thought you could trick me with that fake emerald, didn't you?" he smiled, satisfaction evident all over his face. Sonic glared at him. Tails had said not even a machine could tell the difference between real and fake – he knew the game Eggman was playing. He opened his mouth to challenge him, but Tails spoke first.
"So… how did you know it wasn't the real one?" he asked timidly.
"Tails!" Sonic shouted in exasperation. Now they were really in trouble. Robotnik's grin grew even wider. "Because you just told me, fox boy!" he snickered.
Tails grimaced and looked away from Sonic. He knew he'd goofed, and was ashamed to look at him.

Robotnik smiled evilly at Sonic. "Now for a little space ride!" he told him. "The capsule clears the colony, BAM!"
Sonic bashed his elbow against the glass, knowing he wouldn't be able to break it but trying anyway. Seeing that there was no escape, he gave his friends a last look. "I'm counting on you Tails!" he said, gazing at the fox who had been his partner for so long now. Tails stared back, unsure of what to do. A look of bafflement was on his face. "And Amy..." he said, turning to the pink hedgehog. Amy stared back at him in disbelief. Her hero? Defeated? It couldn't be! But more importantly - was he about to tell her what she'd longed to hear for so long? Sonic took one last look at her, and then said, "…take care of yourself." Turning back to Robotnik, he raised a fist as if to go into a fighting stance, no fear evident on his face. "Do your worst!" he said. Robotnik nodded. He'd expected no less of his enemy. Anyone else would have fallen to their knees and begged for mercy. Not Sonic though. Of course, it made little difference. Even if the hedgehog had pleaded for his life, he would not have spared it. "Farewell, Sonic the Hedgehog!" he bidded him, then pushed the button. As the capsule shot into space, the last thing that Sonic heard was Amy cry out his name in alarm.

*****
Sonic looked around at his surroundings hastily. He refused to believe that the Eggman had beaten him. He would not accept defeat. Glancing at the time bomb at his feet, suggested otherwise though. Looked like Eggman had the better plan this time around. He looked around again. There had to be some way out! Something he could use to escape! But the only things in the capsule were himself, the timb bomb, and the fake Chaos Emerald, useless now. Or… was it? He picked up the gemstone and remembered what Tails had told him about it.
"It has the same wavelengths and properties, but is less powerful than the real one!" he had said.
"The same wavelengths and properties…" Sonic mused. "But… can I do this?" He glanced down at the readout on the bomb's red LED readout. He only had seconds left to find out.
*****
An explosion lit up the darkness of space. "So long Sonic, my admirable adversary!" Tails heard the Eggman say, a look of nostalgia evident on his face. Amy fell to the floor in a blubbering heap. "SOOOOOONIC!!!" she wailed, sobbing helplessly. Then the fox found that the evil doctor had turned his attention back to him. "Now, we have some unfinished business to take care of," he announced, pointing the laser blaster at him now. "If you give me the real Chaos Emerald, I'll release you both! You have my promise!" he grinned, giving his most honest look. Tails looked at him, and then down at the ground. What else could he do? They had no hope, now that Sonic was gone. He didn't really think that Eggman would keep his word… but what if he did? With Sonic out of the way, he and Amy were certainly no threat…

A series of flashbacks flashed through Tails' mind. His first meeting with Sonic. Being taken in by the hedgehog. Training alongside him. Seeing him transform into Super Sonic for the first time. Taking out the Death Egg together. Meeting Knuckles. Then he saw himself, facing Eggman in Station Square. Racing him to the missile. And destroying the Egg Walker. He saw Sonic speaking to him, from behind a glass prison. "I'm counting on you, Tails…" he'd said. Tails looked up, finally thinking straight. "Sonic…" he murmured, then glared at Eggman and fired the Cyclone's laser blaster.

Robotnik was taken by surprise – the laser blaster went flying from his hands. "Wha?!?" he asked, taken aback. He saw something in the fox's face that he hadn't seen before. Anger. A seed of doubt was planted in his head. The fox showed no signs of fear. No sign of wanting to run. Only to avenge his fallen comrade.
"Sonic has asked me for the first time to do something for him!" Tails yelled. "I won't let him down! I won't give up!"

**Chapter 11 – Hanging on the edge of tomorrow**

Shadow gave the exploding capsule no more than a glance of mild curiosity. "I guess he was just a regular hedgehog after all…" It was a shame that the overweight Overlander had killed him. He'd been hoping for that pleasure himself. A pity. Not to worry though. He had better things to think about right now than the fate of one deceased hedgehog, he was sure.

*****
Robotnik regarded his enemy's apprentice coldly. "So. You refuse to surrender?" he asked rhetorically. Tails shook his head, and piloted the Cyclone forward a step. "Never!" he hissed.
"Then prepare to join your buddy Sonic!" he yelled, and fired the Eggmobile's new weapon at him. Homing missiles. Tails was ready for them though, and the locked on laser blasts caused them to explode harmlessly before they got too close to him. In return, he locked onto the Eggmobile and took a shot. Eggman blocked his shots too, and they returned to the old game of circle and shoot that they played at Prison Island. Tails had an ace up his sleeve this time though – the crates he'd found aboard the ship that had brought him here. "I'm gonna show you how powerful my Cyclone is!" he yelled, and punched a button. From out of seemingly nowhere came a barrage of missiles. Robotnik's eyes went wide with fear, and his hand pushed a panic button. A green bubble-like shield came on around him, deflecting the deadly blasts. The doctor narrowed his eyes. "Those were mine! You stole the cargo I had on that shuttle, didn't you? You little cheater!"
Tails glared back at him. "Cheater?!? Look who's talking!"
"The Chaos Emerald shall be mine, fox boy!" Robotnik snarled. "My plans have almost reached fruition! The hedgehog is toast, and the cannon is going to fire in 22 minutes!"
Tails shook his head. "I don't think so! I took out the power supply myself, Eggman!"
Robotnik cackled at him evilly. "You little fool. You don't think that a weapon as powerful as the Eclipse Cannon would have a backup generator?"
Tails growled. He didn't need to check – he knew that he was telling the truth. "Come on! Let's finish this!"
Robotnik ignored him, and turned his attention towards a beeping on his systems. Hello, what was this?
*****
Rouge stared up at the Chaos Emeralds happily. They were without a doubt the prettiest gemstones she had ever seen. "Legend has it that when all seven Chaos Emeralds are gathered, the power creates a miracle!" she smiled to herself, walking towards the pillar that held the shining jewels. "Now, I have six of them! They're mine! All mine!"
"I don't think so!" said a scornful voice from behind her. Rouge swiveled around to see a familiar black hedgehog leaning casually against the doorframe. "Shadow!" she gasped. She was in trouble now, and she knew it.
"So, that was your plan all along, was it?" Shadow asked, walking towards the bat. "Or was it a direct order from the President? Now I know who you are! You're that government spy Rouge the Bat, aren't you?" he accused, pointing at her angrily. Rouge held back her panic. Her cover was blown, that was for sure. But that didn't necessarily mean that it was all over for her. She still had one more roll of the dice.
"So you did your homework, is that it?" she frowned. "I'd call that an invasion of privacy!"
Shadow glared at her. "I could say the same of you," was his response. He knew that she'd been using the main computers here.
Rouge refused to accept defeat. "It looks like things aren't quite working out for you," she said, referring to the invading Sonic and friends. "But my job's done, so I thought I'd take what I'd earned and get out of this place!"
Shadow shook his head pityingly. This girl didn't seem to realize when it was all over. "You are one pathetic creature!" he told her.
"And I could say the same of you!" Rouge retorted. Time to play her wild card. From her backpack she pulled a printout from the computer that she had obtained earlier. "Here I have the results on the project called the Ultimate Lifeform." She pointed to the picture in the top right corner, which displayed a creature of some sorts. It was blurry and hard to make out due not only to its blurriness but also its size. Without a doubt though, the picture was certainly not of Shadow the Hedgehog. The sheer size of it alone made that very clear. It almost looked reptilian.

"But…" Rouge continued, cocking her head to one side, "…if this is a picture of the Ultimate Lifeform, codenamed, 'Shadow,' then just who… or what… is standing in front of me?"
Shadow glared at her. He knew exactly the answer to that question, but he didn't care to tell her it. As the two stood there, regarding each other coldly, a call came over Shadow's walkie talkie.
"This is Dr. Robotnik!" it said excitedly. "The seventh Chaos Emerald is as good as mine! Shadow, someone is trying to get to the Eclipse Cannon! There's not much time left – can you stop them?"
"Affirmative," Shadow answered, then turned back to Rouge. "If you want to live, then leave the Chaos Emeralds where they are," he threatened her. "The fake emerald is good enough for you."
Rouge called after him as he headed for the door. "Do you honestly believe that you're the real Shadow?" she asked.
"No doubt," Shadow replied, not hesitating at all.
"Even your memories may not be real, you know," she pointed out. Shadow halted. He obviously hadn't considered that possibility.
"Even if my memories are not real, it's still me… Shadow…" he told her. "And I will fulfill my promise to Maria. That is all that matters to me now."

Shadow left the room, but Rouge had seen the doubt on his face and the less confident step in his stride. She had at least slowed him down a little. Rouge ran to the pillar and placed her hands on the purple Chaos Emerald to remove it. The jewel emitted a small burst of static electricity at her – just enough to make her squeal in surprise and fall backwards, tumbling over the edge of the ledge. This time she grabbed the edge though, and pulled herself back up. It was no use. She was unable to remove the Chaos Emeralds from where they sat. "Now what do I do?" she asked herself.

*****
Knuckles had been working to find a door that would lead him back inside the ARK when it had happened. He had sensed some strange energy fluctuating nearby him, and turned to his left to investigate. All of a sudden, there had been an intensely bright flash of yellow energy, and a blue form appeared in midair, about a foot off the ground, and dropped to the floor, not moving. Knuckles pulled his hand away from his eyes when the light faded, and recognized the person that had materialized in front of him. "Hey, Sonic!" he called, running over to his unmoving friend. Was he…? No wait, he was breathing. Phew. Then he groaned and tried to get to his feet. Knuckles helped him up, trying to make sense of the hedgehog's murmuring. "Whoa… wasn't sure if I could pull that one off… somehow I managed to use the Chaos Control…"
Knuckles looked at him in confusion. "Chaos Control?" What was that? It was then that Knuckles noticed the glowing yellow jewel, still in Sonic's hand. But wait… there was something wrong about it… it seemed not to contain as much power as the other Chaos Emeralds. This was a fake! A million questions ran through Knuckles' head, but he asked the one that seemed most important. "Are you okay?"
Sonic shrugged him off and attempted to stand without support. "I'm worried about Tails and Amy! I hate to ask, but could you help them?" he asked, regaining his balance. "This is our last chance!" His eyes went away from Knuckles, and into space. Eggman had nearly got him that time. He was going to show him who was boss now! But… how? The fake emerald was supposed to go with the others, in the pillar of the cannon. He should have thrown it in when he had the chance… but then he'd be dead now… but wait, he couldn't have been fooled into the trap without the fake emerald… Sonic put his hands to his head. He needed a plan – and quickly! He could machinery coming online – there was only a few minutes left before the cannon fired again! Sonic sighed and peered out at the ARK. Visible in the distance was the needle-like "nose" of the underside Robotnik face, which made the cannon. There was a complicated series of platforms, rockets and rails leading from where he and Knuckles stood now to the cannon. At least, it looked like it would lead there… it was a chance he's have to take. He looked at the jewel in his hand. Yes. It would work. "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "Before the cannon fires, I'll slam dunk it in there!" he yelled, a vengeful look in his eyes. 'Payback time, Eggman!'

Knuckles watched his friend run to the end of the platform, then leap onto a railing and grind down it. Scratching his head, he wondered if Sonic was in a stable mental state. Judging by his behaviour, Knuckles thought otherwise.

*****
Sonic landed on a platform and looked up to see how he was progressing. Pretty good, he was almost there now. The platform he was on seemed to go on forever though – it was like a ridiculously long gangplank. Could he make it in time?

A voice behind him cut into his thoughts. "You never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog," said Shadow, stepping forward to walk beside him. "I thought that the capsule you were in exploded in space."
Sonic shrugged. "Well, you know, what can I say? I die hard!" he grinned, walking in sync with Shadow. He pulled out the yellow jewel to show him. "You actually saved me, you know," he informed him.
Shadow's eyes went wide. "It WAS a Chaos Emerald, wasn't it? But…" The implications of this made no sense to him. "But… there's no way you could activate the Chaos Control using an emerald that's fake!" he spluttered. Sonic just raised and eyebrow and smiled, then started to jog towards his target destination. He was working on a deadline, after all.

Shadow wasn't about to let him go that easily though, and jogged alongside him. "So, there's more to you than just looking like me! What are you, anyway?" asked the black hedgehog.
"What you see is what you get!" the blue one grinned. "Just a guy that loves adventure! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" That was enough though. This conversation, as far as he was concerned, was over. Revving up his legs, Sonic ran forward. He had to get to that cannon. Looking to his side, he was surprised to see Shadow still keeping up, now skating across the ground! On sneakers?!? Weird! "I see," he replied, making it quite clear that their conversation would be over only when he saw fit. "But you realize that I can't let you live. Your adventuring days are coming to an end!" he said menacingly.
Sonic glared at him. He was having trouble keeping his patience with Shadow. He didn't have time for this! "Alright Shadow," he growled. "It's time for me to finish this!"
Shadow smirked at him cruelly. "Foolish blue hedgehog. You think you know the true power of Chaos Control? I'll show you otherwise!" he yelled.

Shadow leapt at Sonic, who rolled into a ball and used a spin dash to speed ahead. Shadow barely kept his balance, and took a step backwards to avoid toppling over the edge. He glared after Sonic, then revved up a spin dash of his own and continued the chase, this time charging Sonic with a homing attack. Sonic saw it coming just in time, and counteracted with his own homing attack, knocking both of them backwards. Both hedgehogs grabbed the edge of the platform though, and swung themselves back up. "Leave… me… alone!" Sonic panted, raising a fist. "I've got a world to save!"
"Never!" Shadow declared, leaping at him again. Sonic jumped too, and the sparring hedgehogs again connected in midair. This time though they weren't using homing attacks or anything, so they simply fell back to the ground, wrestling each other with a deep loathing. A knee in Sonic's stomach here, and elbow in Shadow's face there. Shadow thrust both his hands around Sonic's neck, and Sonic beat them off by hitting them with the jewel in his hand. Then there was a loud rumbling, and both hedgehogs looked up to see the platform collapsing, piece by piece. 'Now this takes me back to my Death Egg days…' Sonic thought, then the section they were trying to get to their feet on fell, and Sonic and Shadow plunged into space. Sonic tried to grab at Shadow, but he was too far out of reach. Sonic looked into the fake emerald he still clutched, and desperately yelled out, "Chaos control!"

In a flash of yellow light, Sonic disappeared, only to reappear on the end of the platform he'd just fell from, much closer to the cannon. He looked down over the platform, scanning the depths for his rival. But there was no sign of the black hedgehog anywhere. "Game over, Shadow," he sighed, with mixed emotions of satisfaction and regret.

*****
Tails had had enough. "Are you going to come out and fight, Eggman?" he yelled at the doctor, who was still hiding under his bubble-shield.
"Not until you hand over the Chaos Emerald!" Robotnik yelled back, quite comfortable where he was. He had no desire to face those missiles again. 'We'll just have to fire with six of the Chaos Emeralds,' he thought to himself. It would do plenty of damage, after all. The test run on the moon had proven that…

The doctor's eyes snapped open, as he for the first time considered the power of the cannon. If that was the devastating effect that six Chaos Emeralds had, then what would the laser be capable of with all seven? "A weapon capable of destroying an entire planet," he remembered Shadow tell him. He shook his head in disbelief. No. Shadow wouldn't do that. There must be a low-power setting that it could be switched to. The seventh Chaos Emerald was only to allow immediate recharge.

While Robotnik contemplated all this, Tails lost his temper. If the Eggman wanted to play dirty, then fine. Flipping a switch he screamed, "ION CANNON, FIRE!" The doctor looked up just in time to see a large laser beam burst from the front of the Cyclone and come straight at him. It burst the bubble-shield, and struck the Eggmobile dead on, disabling its systems and shorting out circuits. Robotnik fell out in surprise and landed on the floor painfully, lying face up. "My back…" he groaned, attempting to struggle to his feet. Gravity made this difficult though, due to his obese body.

Tails screamed, "Yesssss!" and pumped his fist victoriously in the air, turning to grin at Amy. Amy hadn't paid any attention to any of this though, and sat on the floor, mourning the hero she idolized so. Tails took one look at her miserable face, and Sonic's departure came rushing back to him. One of Mobius' greatest heroes had died today, in the fight for freedom. Climbing out of the Cyclone and looking down at the walkie talkie in his hand still, he whispered, "Sonic, I did it."

Tails nearly leapt out of his skin in surprise when the reply came almost immediately. "Awesome job, Tails!" said a voice that he would have recognized anywhere. "Sonic!" the fox exclaimed, heart leaping in joy. He was alive! Amy looked up, confusion written all over her face.
"Look outside!" the voice over the walkie talkie said. Amy and Tails exchanged looks, then ran to the window. In their haste, they failed to notice their enemy right himself, and creep towards where Tails had left the Cyclone standing.

"Look!" Tails yelled, pointing to a rail below their observation point. Amy peered down and cheered as she saw the blue hedgehog grind down it, the fake Chaos Emerald held tightly in his hand. He waved up at them before the rail took him out of their sight. "Yeeeeeaaaah! Go Sonic!" Amy whooped. Tails grinned happily and turned back to his enemy to gloat… only to see that he was gone. The fox blinked in confusion, and looked around the room. A nasty thought occurred to him, and he ran over to the Cyclone. Oh no.
"Hurry Sonic!" he yelled into the walkie talkie. "He's got the last emerald!"

*****
The glass cover slid aside, and a very happy Dr. Robotnik cackled as he tossed the final Chaos Emerald into its waiting spot. A yellow glow filled the room for a moment, and the glass cover slid back into place. "At long last!" he cried. "Now begins the glorious era of Eggman!"
*****
Sonic looked above him from his vantage point, hanging from an antennae below the ARK. He saw the cannon's nose-like covering whirr, split into four, and slide out of the way to reveal the nozzle of the mega-weapon. 'I've only got one chance at this,' he thought, gritting his teeth as he watched the blue glow beginning to appear. He had to do this just right.

Sonic reeled back his arm, and tossed the fake emerald upwards…

*****
Shadow shimmied up the last of the cable, and then swung over to a nearby platform in relief. The blue hedgehog had almost got him that time. He looked over at the cannon to see a small yellow object fly directly into the nozzle. The cannon attempted to fire, unsuccessfully. Explosions rippled upwards through the machinery, rendering it useless. Shadow swore as he watched the covering slide back into place, over the cannon, his hatred of Sonic elevated yet again. No matter. He may have destroyed the cannon, but that would not stop the revenge scheme that had been set in progress. Nothing could now. The blue hedgehog and his friends were in for a nasty surprise, when the backup plan went into effect…
*****
Dr. Robotnik stood in front of the pillar containing the Chaos Emeralds, laughing madly at the destruction he was sure was about to be unleashed, and blissfully unaware that on the computer screen, a red "DANGER" message had appeared, taking up the whole screen…

TO BE CONCLUDED...