Shades of Deception
~An adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2~
By Pip the Bat
"I got bored dying, so I decided to do something marginally more entertaining." -- Pip
Copyright:
Sonic, Tails and related characters are copyright to Sega. Pip, Heat and all other fan made characters are copyright to me, Pip the Bat. Spark is copyright to Ace Castle. Used with permission.
Many notes to readers:
1) This is only a loose adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, and accuracy is higher in some places than others, although it is not guaranteed or even encouraged. : )
2) I have modified some of the characters' backgrounds to suit my own purposes, so please do not get annoyed or steal my ideas (at least not without permission). Thank you.
3) Saborian is inspired by Dr Who.
4) The only other SA2 adaptation I have read to date is Shayne's, so that I will not be influenced by other people's work.
5) I am inclined towards the Fleetway theory about Knuckles, though they never had a chance to develop it. I therefore have invented my own Knuckles theory inspired partly by that. Please do not steal it, either.
6) Samantha is purely an experiment; I do NOT want to be Sonic's girlfriend any more than I want my leg sawn off without anaesthetic.
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Chapter 1: Original and Fake
~The coming of the Ultimate Life Form~
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A swoosh of wind, a distant pounding of feet: the only sounds to disturb the otherwise serene quiet. Even the gurgling stream seemed to have a veil thrown over it, while the normally expressive woodland birds were silent.
The sound of pounding feet came closer, and within seconds, a figure had burst from under cover of the trees. It was a blue hedgehog with a deep sienna chest, face and ears. The hedgehog was wearing red and white striped trainers, as well as a pair of spotless white gloves. His breath came sharp and fast: perhaps from exhaustion, perhaps from fear.
In the flatland that he was running through, there was no cover to be seen, not a single shrub nor plant. Nevertheless, he had made it halfway across before anything happened to him. The hedgehog had been glancing over his shoulder, checking for any signs of pursuit, when something hit the ground in front of him, exploding in a great ball of light. He was catapulted backwards, coming to rest a few feet away, face down upon the ground.
Something was approaching in the distance, moving quite fast for its size and apparent weight. As it drew closer, its shape became more distinguishable, and it was recognisable as a robotic walker machine. The design was slightly haphazard: it somehow managed to retain both the characteristics of the elite warriors of government manufacture, as well as the more eccentric home-made angle. The single supporting leg was mocked by the machine's much larger body. It indicated that complex workmanship would be involved in the creation of such a thing - how else was it still standing? A gun turret and missile launcher were on the forefront of the walker, daring anybody to oppose its ungamely majesty. Painted onto the side next to those were the initial coding P-3a, among various other signs and symbols. The colouring was red and white, harmonising with the creature sitting nonchalantly at the controls.
He was an orange fox with a furry white face, chest and ears. A tufty fringe drooped from his head. His fluffy twin tails curled up either side of him, their white tips flicking minimally, barely retaining showing their owner's excitement. The fox wore white gloves, fastened with a buckle - his red and white shoes were similarly fastened. He was sitting astride the walker, his legs dangling either side, as if he were merely riding a horse or a common mule. His hands flicked across the controls expertly, and with confidence. He was obviously at home with machines. Looking down at the hedgehog, his grin of triumph was barely concealed.
"I got you-" he began, but at that moment, he leaned too far forward, overbalancing and falling to the ground with a painful thud.
The hedgehog was on his feet in an instant, leaping to where the young fox lay stunned. His concern might have seemed strange to an observer, considering the fox had just shot at him. "Tails?" No reply. "Tails, are you okay?"
Groaning and rubbing his head, Tails pushed himself onto his knees. "I guess so," he answered, ruefully.
Sonic sighed and rolled his eyes. "I keep telling you that you've got to fit some kind of strap or something onto that machine, dude, otherwise you're just going to keep falling off. Another leg might help too. I can't see how it keeps its balance at all."
"Mm." The fox cast a dispirited glance back at the walker. "Maybe. A cockpit would be favourite, except I'd have to go over to Sapphire City to get the parts. I think I've just about cleaned Rotor's workshop up of everything."
The hedgehog grinned, helping Tails to his feet. "Yeah, I think he'd be glad to see the back of you. Tell you what, we could both go, and make a trip of it. Take the Tornado or something, and see if we can't strap that thing to it. I'd like to see the place again - I mean, we haven't been there for ages."
Tails stopped looking worried and treated his friend an innocent looking smirk. "Are you sure you don't just want to see Sam again?" He snickered quietly as his friend's face turned an unbecoming shade of pink.
Sam, or Samantha Rose, to give her her full name, was an opaline hedgehog. Her main colour was a dappled marble blue, while her eyes harmonised with a light purple. The hedgehog owned and managed a chao garden in Sapphire City. She was easy going, though very protective of the chao she cared for, and would do anything to protect them, even if it meant putting her own life in danger. Sam was always friendly and obliging to Sonic, Knuckles and Tails, who she had first met while they were on their last major adventure in Sapphire City: stopping the water beast known as Chaos.
"No way!" Sonic exclaimed, blushing furiously. "I just want to, y'know, look about the place. They might have done it up since we last saw it." Actually, the last time that they had seen it, the city had been a smashed wreck, pulverised by the fury of Chaos. That had been nearly a year ago though, and the repairs would have been duly made a while back.
"I wouldn't mind doing that," Tails agreed, brightly. "It all looked a little depressing as we left it. Do you think they'll give us some kind of heroes' welcome, for saving them last time?"
Sonic shrugged. "Doubt it, dude. They'll probably have other things to be getting on with."
A pause. "I wouldn't mind seeing Sam again," Tails said. "She's nice; I like her. Amy can be kinda fun, too." Amy was Samantha's younger sister, who had a crush on Sonic. Sonic did not appreciate her attentions however, merely finding her annoying. Still, he felt a little fond of her in an older brother sort of way - during their battle against Robotnik and Chaos, he had gone to a lot of trouble to save her from Zero, a robot who had kidnapped her.
"Yeah, right," muttered Sonic, sarcastically. "Do you know why she's pink, not opaline? Apparently, she coloured herself with permanent dye because she thought that it would attract my attention. I mean, honestly."
"Who told you that?"
"Amy."
"Was she pink when she first met you?"
Sonic thought back to bumping into the little kid in Sapphire City. He nodded. "Uh-huh." Tails said nothing, waiting until the hedgehog finally realised. "Oh." He stared into the middle distance. "She still dyed it permanent pink anyway," he said, defensively. "Which is a dumb thing to do."
They stood in silence for a moment, looking up at the walker. "Have you decided on a name for it yet?" asked Sonic, eventually, more to break the quiet than out of interest. He knew that Tails was keen on his creations though, and quite enjoyed listening to him babbling on about them at length, as he was prone to do once started.
"Nah." The fox shook his head. "I want to get it finished before I name it. If I just do one now, it might not suit it, and it's bad luck to rename a machine, same as ships."
"Suit yourself." Tails glanced towards Sonic, who had unconsciously begun tapping his foot. His friend was well known for his impatience.
"Do you want to go ahead to Knothole and ask Sally about us visiting Sapphire City, while I bring my walker? It won't take me a minute." So saying, he spun his twin tails like rotor blades upon a helicopter. They lifted him off the ground and into the air, and he flew back onto the control seat of the machine, preparing to ride saddleback style again.
Sonic nodded. "See ya there." With a turn of his amazing speed, he was away and out of sight, towards the village of Knothole, leaving a choking trail of dust in his wake. Smiling to himself, Tails lovingly set his machine in motion, and the single leg propelled itself forward in a hopping motion, nearly dislodging him again. Maybe Sonic was right about giving it two legs, rather than just the one.
He hit a rut in the grass, and the machine almost went tumbling over onto its side, giving a warning lurch before it succeeded in righting itself again. Definitely two legs.
Humming tunelessly to himself, the young mechanic piloted the walker towards Knothole.
***
An obese human was seated at a desk; his chair pushed back to encompass his weight comfortably. His large figure was garbed in a red shirt with a yellow collar, and black tight-fitting trousers. Bristling out of his face like some kind of bushy tailed animal was a brown moustache. To a casual observer, it might have seemed that he had grafted the hair from his bald dome, stuffing it up his nose instead. His eyes were black and beady: filled with cunning.
He was also smiling. This expression alone could have caused many creatures serious concern about their immediate future, and what horrible tortures it could involve. However, there was no one in the room to witness his glee at that moment in time.
Laughing softly to himself, he fanned himself with the small book he was holding, the pages of which were unbetraying of their age. That was due entirely to their owner's working: he had been a superb scientist of his time. The book was a diary, and, according to the small precise lettering printed upon the cover, belonged to one Professor Gerald Robotnik.
The human had not known that his grandfather had kept a diary: to the contrary, he had always thought of 'Granddad' as a mysterious and elusive figure. He had hardly ever seen him, not even on his birthdays or Christmas when the rest of the family had gathered together. His grandmother had died over ten years before he had been born. Almost all he had ever got was via post - a typed birthday card each year, not even signed, and a check for a not inconsiderable sum of money. He had received dozens of these, keeping them all stashed away orderly in a little box of keepsakes.
He had never expected to find anything of value or use to him by looking through his box again after all these years. Most people, even the current Robotnik, felt the need every so often for a trip down memory lane. Thus it was, that while sorting through his birth certificate, documents, and cards - including his one and only Valentine's card from his school days - he had stumbled across It.
Robotnik had to confess, he never remembered receiving It from anybody, or even putting It into the box. Professor Gerald Robotnik had disappeared many years previously, to where none knew. It was not even known if he still lived or not. Personally, Robotnik doubted it. Nevertheless, It was there: the diary of his grandfather.
Flicking through the diary, he had swiftly become intrigued, becoming unable to put it down after the first few entries. It was very interesting, very interesting indeed.
Putting the diary down carefully on the surface of the desk, he bellowed out a command. "Mecha! Come here!"
***
A golden echidna sat up where she had fallen, gazing quietly at the creatures in front of her. They had appeared seemingly from nowhere, startling her completely; the reason why she was in her current position. She had leapt into the air with terror, skidding as she landed, toppling over backwards into the mud. Now she stared silently, wondering what and who these wondrous creatures could be.
They were seated upon a magnificent beast, the front half of whom was like that of a giant eagle, while the back half was like that of a lion. The tawny feathers of the eagle blended in perfectly just below the wing level with the golden-brown of the lion's fur. Much equipment burdened the animal, though it did not seem to care, or even feel the weight of it. It had fixed her with a most intelligent gaze, and the words 'dumb animal' vanished from her mind without a trace.
One of the passengers, a green hedgehog, leapt down from the creature's back, shaking himself hard, as if he had just come out from a swim in a pool. "Can't you make this thing go any smoother?" he complained, rubbing his temple. "I didn't mean you," he added, as the half-eagle, half-lion turned its sharp gaze upon him. "I meant the whole of the time-and-space equipment. Stuff. Thing. You know what I mean."
The first thing that struck home about the hedgehog was his hair: there was masses upon masses of it, all unruly, yet somehow managing to look becoming upon him. He wore a red jacket, a brown leather pouch belt, red and white shoes, and white gloves fastened with spiked metal cuffs. His left ear was pierced, bearing two gold rings. About his neck hung a medallion that winked when the sun caught it. His main colour was, as previously stated, green, although his face, stomach, inside of ears and arms were all a tanned cream colour. She judged him to be in his teens, about 15 or 16. A cheeky grin was worn upon his face; he was obviously teasing the other rider.
"You told Karisma that you enjoyed it," the other remarked, wryly. He was a tiger, mainly a fiery orange with black stripes, though his right ear was mostly white, and his muzzle was a creamy yellow. His hair was worn long, a lengthy tuft of it hanging down his face, over one eye. The left eye was ringed in black, as if he had been injured there, though the mark was entirely natural. About his neck was a metal collar. He also wore a leather belt and sash, attached to which was a small green box that hung by his hip. His shoes were sharply highlighted, due to their contrasting colours: green, orange and red. Upon his head was a battered brown cowboy hat. The colour of his eyes was a deep oak brown. They twinkled mischievously as he spoke. He looked as if he was in his late teenage years, though she had the curious feeling that he was much, much older.
The tiger leapt down from the novel creature's back, executing a smooth bow towards the golden echidna. She stared at him, wide-eyed. "What ... who are you?" she managed, wondering whether she ought to flee from these apparitions.
His reply was swift, and she noted with interest his cultured voice. "I am known as Sabre. My real name is Saborian, but everybody shortens it. My companion-" Here the beaked creature behind him gave a hiss of annoyance. "Sorry, companions. I'd forgotten you," he added, smirking good-naturedly at the green hedgehog. "This is Krasyetta," he said, gesturing to the eagle-lion. "Make sure you pronounce it kraz-yed-da, or you'll be in trouble with her."
"And I'm Manic," the hedgehog told her, sticking out one hand to help her to her feet. "Pleased to meet you, Tikal." She gave a start of surprise, retracting her hand. How did they know her name?
Sabre frowned at him, his eyes giving the message 'Don't worry her'. "You asked what we are," he stated. "If by that you meant species, then Krasyetta is a gryffin, Manic is, as you might have guessed, a hedgehog, and I am a sabre-toothed tiger."
She opened her mouth in astonishment, forgetting her terror of the strangers. "The sabre-toothed tigers were thought to have died out centuries ago!" she gasped. Then, after a pause, she asked: "But what about ..." She hesitated, wondering how to phrase her question without giving offence.
Manic came to her rescue. "Where are his big long teeth? You don't wanna see him when he has them, trust me. His eyes go all red and mean, and his teeth grow about a foot in length."
"As to what we do," Sabre continued, ignoring the interruption, "we travel through time and space." Tikal opened her mouth to ask more questions, but he cut across her before she could. "We will answer all your questions and more, only later. You see, we have come to ask for your help. Will you come with us?"
What help could she possibly be to such amazing travellers? she wondered. Could she give her time, too? She had only just succeeded in cultivating the village of the surviving community of echidnas to its former grandeur, after the certain ... events that had taken place. Her father and most of the warriors were dead after the whole affair with Chaos several months ago. During that time she had had to use her power to its full extent: the power to grant other creatures visions.
As if guessing her thoughts, the tiger added, casually: "It would help greatly the survival of Knuckles Echidna."
She stood at once, her decision made. "I will come," she told them.
***
Sonic's feet slowed their relentless pounding somewhat as he skidded into the village. The hedgehog was aware that most of the villagers would get angry with him if he ran them down, which happened less and less these days. He was not quite as careless as he had been, especially after Jeanne, the healer squirrel, had whacked him in the face with her clipboard the last time he had accidentally hit her.
Even so, he almost stood on someone as he entered the village. It was Citras, the tropical green android hedgehog. His elbows, tail, spikes and ears were tipped with metal points, while he wore metal kneecaps. Upon his forehead was a purple triangle which, if it signified anything, it was not known what. He wore white gloves on his hands and metal-soled black and white lace-ups on his feet, as well as his infamous purple bomber jacket. His eyes were bright and friendly, his lazy grin welcoming; all part of his charm. For Citras was one of the few remaining 'perfect' androids, creatures that had an unearthly skill at drawing others to like them (without any seeming effort), amongst their other skills.
"Hey Sonic," he said, cheerfully, without looking up from his crouched position on the floor. The blue hedgehog could see that he had just dropped a pile of papers on the floor, and was trying hastily to dust them down. "Jeanne asked me to take these," he explained, seeing Sonic's questioning look. "Just don't tell her I dropped them, okay?" Straightening up, he shook the papers once to free them of the remaining earth. "Good as new. How's it going then, with you and that walker? Did you win?"
Sonic hastened to explain. "We weren't doing it to win or lose."
"So you lost then?"
"I didn't say that!" he protested.
"No, but if you'd beaten it you would have said."
The blue hedgehog looked defensive. "I wasn't supposed to be trying. If I'd trashed it, Tails would have had a fit. We were just seeing if it could hit a running target."
"And could it?"
"Almost. It just missed me, although I was stunned quite badly afterwards. The only problem is, Tails fell off it before he could get to me."
Citras laughed, flashing his teeth. "Why doesn't he have some kind of grips on it?"
"He's dried up practically all of Knothole's equipment." He nodded towards Rotor's workshop, where most of the equipment was usually housed. "We're thinking of going on a trip to Sapphire City." Sonic could not resist adding, in a nonchalant tone: "That's where I fought Perfect Chaos, y'know. Anyway, they've almost got equipment to give away there. It's a kinda cool place too - lots of space to run in."
"Would you believe it, but I've never been there. I've heard people talking about it before now though. I wouldn't mind visiting it myself sometime," he added, wistfully.
Sonic replied before he knew what he was saying. "Why don't you join us then?" He groaned inwardly. Even after all this time, he still had trouble resisting the urge to try and please the android. Luckily for him though, he had no problem about him tagging along. He had already had one adventure with Citras anyway, and they were firm friends.
"Really? You're not just saying that because it's me, are you?" Sonic shook his head. "I think I might just do that then. You can show me all your victory sites and the layout of the place. It could be fun, huh?"
About to reply, Sonic suddenly dug Citras hard in the ribs. "Hey dude, I'd look out if I were you. I think Jeanne's on the warpath." Glancing back, the tropical hedgehog saw the squirrel stalking towards them angrily, now only a few huts away.
With a hurried "Later" he dashed away, saving himself from the healer's colourful wrath. Sonic, deciding that he had better get himself out of harm's way if Jeanne was on the warpath, dodged behind the nearest hut. He fancied that he caught a "When will he ever learn?" under her breath as she passed, though he could not be sure. Sonic grinned to himself.
"Good old Jeanne," he murmured to himself, grinning.
He went to look for Sally. He did not have to go far before he found her. She was taking some measurements for a new hut, the ever trusty Nicole tucked under one arm. Knothole was no longer the minuet village it had once been (although it was by no means big or even medium sized yet); at one time they had had huts to spare. In fact, they still had huts to spare, since many villagers were moving out to the larger cities now. The huts were not all for living quarters though: several were used for storing supplies.
"Oh, hi Sonic," she said, holding one end of the tapemeasure in her mouth. "Do you think you could just hold this for a minute?"
"Sure." The hedgehog obligingly held the tapemeasure while Sally wound it out. Frowning to herself, she untucked a piece of paper from under her chin, scribbling down some quick measurements on it, then letting go of her end, allowing it to snap back into its holder.
"Thanks. I think that should do it now." She reclaimed the tapemeasure, which he held out to her. "So." She flicked back her hair. "Did you want something?"
"I was wondering if you could cope without me, Tails and Citras for a week or two. We've got nothing left to finish building Tails's walker with, and he's a hazard to himself in it as it is."
"You want to take a break? I'm certain we won't need any extra help over our end: it's been really quiet, after all. Where were you thinking of going?"
"Sapphire City."
"Checking over your old victory grounds, huh? Well, I've got no problem with that. It'll do you both good to get away."
He grinned. "Cheers, Sal. Tails will be thrilled when I tell him. He's dying to get that walker of his finished. Personally, I wouldn't mind cruising round the place. You can get up to a really high velocity in some of the areas."
The squirrel flicked her hair out of her eyes with a toss of her head. "Whatever. Just don't go and get yourself arrested for breaking the speed limit or something. I know you," she added, darkly.
"Me? Arrested? Ha, they'd have to catch me first." Seeing the expression on her face, he quickly added: "Okay, okay, I promise I won't go around annoying the police or anything. I think we'll go in a couple of days; it won't take us too long to get ready. We can stay at that hotel we were at last time."
Sally could not help but smile. "I think you're going to enjoy yourselves," she said. "You'll have a great time."
***
At that moment in the very hotel that Sonic was talking about in Sapphire City, two figures were facing each other across a round glass table, one gazing expressionlessly, the other nervously wetting their lips.
Eventually one spoke. "It's your move," said the expressionless one. The creature was a robot bat, charcoal black with icy blue eyes. Dangling from a chain about her neck was a translucent blue gemstone. She was one of the Mecha bots; ruthless killer robots who were a constant bane to Knothole. Her arms were folded and she was sitting in a confident casual position. The robot's name was Pip, or Steel Pip if formalities were called for. Seated upon the table to her left was a golden cat chao, with a red triangular mark down his forehead, and tear marks at the sides of his body. He had a long curling tail and fiery red wings. His life-force sphere was spiked.
The creature facing her was a silvery stoat with a white-tipped tail. He was obviously uncomfortable with the robot's presence, the thought 'How was she allowed in here?' etched across his face. Trembling, he extended one hand, lifting one of his pawns and moving it forward one square.
Almost as soon as he did so, a loud beep sounded. Without shifting her gaze from the board, the robot reached down, picked up a com unit and hurled it out of the window. The tinkling of broken glass was followed by an anguished cry from below: supposedly the com had landed on somebody. The ferret gulped, wondering if there was any possible chance of him being held responsible for any injuries or the damage sustained to the window.
The golden chao spoke. "Do you think that was a good idea? It might have been something important."
"Well, if it was, they would hardly bother to tell me," replied the bat. Slowly, deliberately, she moved her queen across the board. "Checkmate." Her eyes met her opponent's, and he was forced to look away. Leaving the stoat to figure out his loss, she turned to the chao. "Let's face it, there's absolutely no reason for him trying to contact us."
"Then why did he just try?"
"Wrong number? Anyway, what if I don't want to talk to him? I mean, he's so boring. I'm not going to run about for him on his every whim, am I Heat?"
Heat smirked a little, possibly at the thought of 'him' running. "Okay then, but it might not actually be Robotnik. It could be Mecha, or Robo maybe. They call you just about every day." Mecha and Robo were the other two Mecha bots, known formally as Metal Sonic and Robo Knuckles, respectively.
"Then they can live without talking to me today."
"I guess so." He paused, a nasty grin spreading across his face. "I wonder why they keep calling you up?"
"Absolutely no idea."
Heat sighed. His mistress was not always good at taking a hint. She would honestly be none the wiser as to the reason for their attentions. "Never mind."
Pip turned back to the stoat. He was staring dismally at the board, as if in some kind of trance. Heat guessed that he was trying not to cry.
"Don't be too upset," she told him, brightly. "After all, you've only lost your title as Sapphire City Chess Grand Master. Oh, and the prize money of course. Not to mention-" The stoat burst into noisy sobs. "Oh dear," she said, without any sign of regret. "I made him cry."
Choking back his tears, her opponent gasped out: "Robots shouldn't be allowed to participate! It's not right!"
All of a sudden, the room seemed to grow a lot quieter, so that only his snuffles and the distant murmuring of voices in the street below were audible. On her feet in an instant, Pip extended her claws, driving them into the table top, right through the centre of the board. "Do you have something against robots?" she hissed, deadly menace in her voice, leaning over him.
Something suicidal in the stoat's brain caused him to plunge recklessly ahead. "Robots are just cheating scum; everybody knows that. They oughtn't to be allowed to enter Chess Championships, or anything else for that matter. Nobody likes robots."
"Really? Is that what you think?" The tone could have quailed many a brave heart. "Has it ever occurred to you that robots might not like people like you?"
"I ... I'm always open to new ideas," he stuttered, grinning in a maniacally desperate way.
"How nice." She withdrew her claws from the table, straightened then stood, looking out of the shattered window. The claws upon her other hand were now extended, and they were both raised in the air. The stoat moved his chair back, silently as he thought, hoping to reach the door before she turned again. Unluckily for him, he was not quiet enough, or perhaps she could see his reflection in the shards of glass.
"Are you open to suggestions?" With a whirl of movement, she had reached him, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him up as if his weight was no more than a rag doll's. Later on, he told anyone who would listen that she had been about to throw him out the window, to certain death below.
Whether this would have occurred or not would never be known, for the door of the room was thrown open at that moment. Framed in the doorway were several angry looking human security guards, clad in a uniform blue. He realised that they must have come to see about the extreme ejection of the com unit. Hissing with fury, the robot hurled him across the room at the guards. Too surprised to react, the guards ended up in a tangled heap with the stoat, yelling and shoving each other, thus thwarting the others' attempts to stand.
By the time they had all set themselves free from one another, both the bat and the chao had vanished.
***
"We should do this more often!" Sonic yelled to Tails, over the noise of the engines. In his opinion, standing upon the wings of the bi-plane, feeling the rush of the wind ruffling through his quills, was almost - if not quite - as good a feeling as running.
Tails just nodded: he was concentrating on steering the Tornado, the bi-plane that he had lovingly constructed and improved as time went by. Sonic thought that it had been the first proper machine that the fox had ever built. With the constant changes, tweaks and alterations that it received, it was now a streamlined, although somewhat battered beauty. Both Mobians loved to fly in or on it.
Citras was sitting calmly on the other wing, looking down, observing the serene sea below. He had never ridden on the bi-plane before, and Sonic was wondered at how fazed he had been to begin with. The android managed to surprise him every time. Sonic had never thought of him as being scared of heights.
"I'm not scared of the actual heights," Citras had explained to him, confidentially. "I'm just scared of the ground. It's the ground that kills you."
They had packed everything that they needed to take, though as they were staying at the hotel, they did not need to take too much. The walker was strapped securely to the underside of the Tornado. It was slowing them down a little, but not as much as he had first thought it would. Either their bi-plane was a lot more powerful than it looked, the walker was crafted well in a lightweight fashion, or maybe even both. Sonic like to think it was the latter.
The hedgehog looked down. Already the nightlights of the mainland were visible. There was something exciting and comforting about seeing the lights of a city at night from a plane, he thought. It was a kind of magic all its own.
"Not long until we land," Tails told him from the cockpit. It was unnecessary, but he enjoyed being in command of his bi-plane. This time though, there might be another reason; Sonic caught a faint note of worry in his voice as he spoke.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, sharply.
"It's the walker," Tails reported at once. He had been mulling on the problem for some time. "I think it must be slowing us down too much. I've packed all the fuel I could possibly get in, but because of the walker we've been going too slowly: burning up more energy." Sonic gave him a quizzical look. "What I'm trying to say is that I don't think we're going to quite make it there."
Citras looked up. "What?"
"Normally, there's a slight chance that we might just be able to run on no fuel for a little bit, almost gliding if you get my drift." None of them, least of all Tails, noticed the pun. "With the walker though, we're just too heavy."
Sonic put his hands on his hips. "C'mon then, Mr. Technical Expert, what can we do then?"
"Crash, by the looks of it," Tails informed them, miserably. "I can't really see anything we can do for the Tornado." He paused. "I suppose I could airlift you to safety, although that would mean leaving the Tornado and the walker." The other two could not think of anything to say: they both knew how much Tails loved the bi-plane.
"Take Citras first then," Sonic told him. "I can handle the controls for a while; I know how to do that much."
Tails nodded. "Can you swim, Citras?" he asked. "Because I can't get you to the mainland and still help Sonic."
The android nodded. "Uh-huh. I'd just been swimming the first time I met Sonic." The fox nodded: he remembered that.
Handing the controls over to Sonic, the fox spun his two tails, lifting him off the bi-plane's surface and into the air. "Grab hold of my ankles," he instructed Citras. "And hang on tight."
Sonic watched them briefly, as Citras followed Tails's commands and the two hovered down out of sight. Then his full concentration was focused on the controls. They suddenly seemed a lot more complex than they had done last time he had flown the Tornado. Tails must have upgraded it more than he had thought. Grappling desperately with the controls, wondering if he was actually doing more harm than help, he awaited the fox's return.
Meanwhile, Tails and his passenger were still about twenty feet above the surface of the sea, when a screaming object hurtled out of the air, connecting solidly with the fox's skull. Drifting into a hazy fog, Tails barely noticed as he plummeted the drop, landing with a loud and painful splash in the water.
Citras hit the water a few seconds before, converting his fall into an improvised - though impressive - dive. Gliding swiftly through the water, he surfaced, glancing about him for the fox. As he could not drown, being what he was, the all-enveloping sea did not bother him.
A few strokes was all it took to reach the fox, who was floating calmly on the gentle waves, apparently in no danger at all. Relieved, Citras bobbed up and down beside him. Remembering Sonic, he jerked his head back, trying to catch a glimpse of the Tornado. There it was, passing overhead, disappearing out of sight. His mind raced, trying to think of something he could do to help his friend. Nothing. Cursing himself for his uselessness, he could only watch helplessly for the inevitable crash.
Sonic flicked the controls this way and that, trying to figure out some conceivable pattern that would allow him to pilot the bi-plane. He frowned to himself, near panicking. Where had Tails got to? Had something happened to him? Or was time passing more slowly than his beating heart told him? He hoped that he would turn up soon, or he was done for.
A minute passed, and the fear gripped him in its ice-cold talons, refusing to release him. Tails was not coming, that was for certain. He had to try and keep his head, to work out a plan of action. That was easier said than done though, especially when the bi-plane's fuel gauge was already registering zero: he was running on the dregs of the tank alone.
His eyes roved the Tornado for something - anything - that he could use to aid him. His eyes fell on Tails's pack, and an idea slowly began to form in his mind. He knew that Tails had packed his trusty craft knife - he remembered helping him to pack his items, after all.
Leaving the controls, he grabbed the craft knife and stepped onto the wing. Having balanced on it many times before, it proved to be no difficulty to him. Dropping to his hands and knees, Sonic grasped the underside of the wing, and swung himself downwards. With a lurch, he found himself falling, then almost as suddenly he stopped. His foot had caught itself in the rope attaching the walker to the Tornado. He breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for small mercies. He had not even lost the knife.
He gave himself no rest, spending a perilous few seconds swinging himself upright. Grasping the rope fireman-style, he took the craft knife in one hand, moving it backwards and forwards in a sawing motion. He only wished that the ropes were not as strong as he had previously hoped. Why could the knife not be sharper? Then he was through, nearly falling again as the rope gave way to his frantic slashes. After that, the other ropes seemed easier to cut. Perhaps he had adapted himself to the task, or perhaps he was getting gradually more desperate with each stroke.
When he had frayed the fifth rope, and only one remained, it became much harder to keep his balance, as whichever way he turned he would fall. Levering himself up, he managed to secure a handhold on the wheels of the Tornado. One hand would have to do for now. His sawing was gentler this time: he did not wish for the walker to fall before he had got a safer grip. One last hack, and the rope snapped under the weight of the walker. Using his renowned split-second reactions, Sonic swung his other hand up, letting go of the knife.
Being the heavier of the two, the walker hit the surface of the water first, a shower splashing everywhere from where it landed. The ripples spread out around it for a long time afterwards. The knife made a much smaller splash, although Sonic did not see it hit: he was more concerned with where the bi-plane was going to land. From the looks of it, it was going to crash right into the small forest of palm trees that fringed the beach. He groaned to himself - it seemed like it was out of the frying pan into the fire.
The bi-plane was now tilted slightly, angling itself perfectly. The trees were rushing up at a terrifyingly fast speed, and Sonic knew without a doubt that he was only going to get one try at this.
As the bi-plane soared over the beach, he dropped, curling up into a spiky ball, to cushion the impact of his landing. Fortunately, the fall was only ten feet, which was next to nothing to Sonic: he had fallen from much worse heights in his time. That did not save him from being more than a little bruised, however. Uncurling and propping himself up on his elbows, he forgot about his injuries for a moment as he saw the bi-plane skim down, finally making contact with the trees.
It would have broken Tails's heart to see the ensuing crash. The Tornado crumpled up like it was made of paper, wings tearing, and engines shrieking in protest at this treatment. Sonic turned away, sickened. It was only a machine, he knew, but that did not make its demise any more palatable.
Worn out, he slumped back down into the damp granules of sand, wetted by the innocently sparkling sea behind him.
***
Chao were playing happily together - with one or two exceptions - looking like they were having the time of their lives. Such was the way with a chao garden, the so-called perfect home for any chao. There were many different types and breeds there, ranging from common, to rare to types never even heard of before. The garden was gaily decorated: garishly coloured balls were rocking gently in the breeze or being pushed along by chao; delicious looking fruits were scattered around; toys of many kinds were all about the place.
As one, the chao all looked towards the entrance, as if they had sensed something. Even the ones who were bickering or having play fights stopped what they were doing to look.
A figure, hooded and cloaked in a shimmering purpley-blue material slipped in. It was impossible from the arrangement of the cloak who they were, or even what kind of creature. They were followed by a chao; golden and cat-like. Both he and the mysterious figure were well known to the chao of the Sapphire City garden.
"Hi chao," announced the mysterious cloaked figure.
"Hi Steel," they chorused, happily.
The golden chao observed at the others with a incurious air. Noticing one or two of them watching him, he yawned pointedly, treating them to his unimpressed gaze.
"Do you know where Sam is?" asked the figure, politely.
"She's just gone out to get some food," one chao told her, an off-white light chaos chao with luminous green eyes. "She won't be long, if you want to wait. Little Mistress has gone with her."
A shift in the cloak that could have been a nod. "It's okay. I'll leave the money here." From some concealed pocket or compartment a black-gloved hand produced a large wad of notes. "Be sure to tell her when she gets back, won't you?"
"And woe betide you if any of you eat it," the cat chao added, his deadpan expression not shifting.
"We won't," the self-appointed spokeschao assured them. "We'll make sure they know."
"Thank you." As silently as they had come, the two left, none of the chao reading anything untoward into it. Within a few minutes, they were back to their normal rowdy behaviour.
***
Sonic, Citras and Tails were sitting in the outdoor hotel cafeteria. It was situated in a quad overhung with palm trees and other exotic plants, some completely unknown to the three friends. The floor was flagged with cool grey slabs, a great relief to those pattering back from the swimming pool to their towels. Sonic wondered how they did it. In his experience, you almost always got your feet scalded off when you stepped on the ground barefoot in the summer.
The fox sported a bandage carefully wrapped around the left side of his head. Sonic was not sure that it was entirely necessary, but finally reasoned that Tails was entitled to it after what had happened to the Tornado. The hedgehog was almost disappointed that he himself had nothing to show for his escapade. He always enjoyed showing off his 'war wounds', and the sympathy that he earned with them. Citras was fine too.
It was the day after their impromptu arrival, and they had done quite a lot in that time. After stumbling along to the hotel, they had succeeded in booking rooms, then had managed to enlist some voluntary help from some of the staff in recovering the Tornado and the walker. Citras and Sonic had gone with the staff, leaving Tails behind to have his head dressed and trussed in bandages. Surprisingly enough, the walker had sustained little if no damage whatsoever, save being a little waterlogged. It would not take a lot to set it as right as rain once more. After seeing the wreckage of the fox's bi-plane, Sonic was glad that Tails would get some consolation. The Tornado was wrecked badly; both the wings would need replacing, as would the tail. The least badly hit part was the cockpit, which had not received even a scratch. Both the Tornado and the walker had been stored in a nearby warehouse for safekeeping.
Tails had taken the news of the Tornado better than Sonic had expected. "It's not quite as bad as I'd thought," he had said to them, sighing. "At least I'll be able to fix it up, although it'll take some time. I'd thought that it would have to be written off totally." The fact that the walker was in a good condition helped to cheer him up as well.
"So, what are you going to show me today?" asked Citras.
The android could keep going without sleep indefinitely, and Tails had had some sleep while they were out salvaging his machines, but Sonic was worn out and sleepy. "Something that doesn't take a lot of effort," he groaned, covering his mouth to hide his yawning. "I need a good sleep, otherwise I'll be too dozy to enjoy anything properly."
"Why don't you try and get some sleep now?"
"Nah, it'll just muck up my sleeping pattern. I'll go to bed at night, same as everybody else."
It was Tails who came up with the obvious answer. "Why don't we go and see Sam and Amy then?" Sonic was pleased that it was the fox who had suggested it and not himself. He was simply too tired to take any teasing in good humour.
Citras was interested. "Didn't you say she keeps a chao garden?" The other two nodded in the affirmative. "Neat. They're cute little guys, although that doesn't cover the half of it."
"I think they're great," Tails told him, enthusiastically.
Sonic summed up their feelings in three words. "Chao are cool."
So it was decided: they would spend their first day visiting Samantha, Amy and the chao gardens.
***
Knuckles, the echidna Guardian of the Floating Island, yawned, covering his mouth with one spike-fisted gloved hand. The Guardian was red in colour, with a sienna face and purple eyes. His hair was long, in the dreadlock way of his kind. Not that there were any other echidnas around really. He was the last Mobian one at any rate, or so he thought. Upon his chest was a white crescent, showing his position of Guardian. He wore white gloves on his spiked fists, and red and yellow lace-up shoes.
He was yawning because he had had spent much time at work the previous day, going on late into the night. The fact that he had got up exceedingly early - at least by his usual standards - did not do anything to improve matters. True, he had been helped yesterday by the Chaotix Crew - Vector the crocodile, Mighty the armadillo, Espio the chameleon, and Charmey Bee. This morning however, he had not the heart to wake them, since they were slumbering so peacefully. He had made them work hard, and they deserved their rest. That left it to him to continue the job while they slept.
What he was trying to do was to restore the Master Emerald to its original shrine, where it had stood before its desolation in the First Coming of Chaos. Now, only the ruins remained. Someday, he had sworn to himself that he would restore it to its original splendour once more. This he was now trying to accomplish. However, unlike Hidden Palace, it would be open to the elements, at least until he could construct some kind of covering.
They had placed the Master Emerald in the centre of the stone quadrant at the summit of the temple. It had taken them a while to do, even with all of them helping, but they had managed it in the end. The Guardian thought that it would looked quite at home there.
Yawning once more, he gave the massive gem an ownerful pat, before walking away to go and get his shovel claws. There was a lot of gruelling work yet to be done.
***
The two hedgehog sisters had only just arrived back when Sonic, Tails and Citras arrived at the chao garden. It was located in the outskirts of the east section of the city; a sparsely populated area. That was fine for the purposes of chao breeding, they knew. It was not that chao did not like people, far from it, it was simply that some chao who were shyer than others would be intimidated by people crowding around them. It was there if you knew where to look.
Amy was the same age as Tails, quite pretty looking, with a short crop of spikes and a smooth fringe. Her main colour was, of course, pink. She wore a red dress with a white fringe, as well as red and white striped shoes and a red aliceband. She had golden cuffs on her gloves. Amy's eyes were a contrasting emerald green. As Sonic had green eyes too, she took this as an instant sign of a perfect match made.
Samantha looked a little like Amy, though not quite. For one thing, her colour was different; her natural opaline mottled blue with purple eyes. For another, she dressed differently. She wore white trousers and a short bikini top, with a yellow cowboy style sash tied about her neck. Her shoes were of the same make as Amy's, though with a different design: a red to white gradient, with a yellow tick on the outside. She also wore golden cuffs, like her sister. Her fringe was like Amy's; short and spiky, while her spines were cut in a slightly different style.
They appeared to have been shopping, for they were dumping down bags of food, for the chao and for themselves. Another indication of this was that Amy was squealing about a new pair of shoes that she had bought at a bargain price. Having been dragged along bargain hunting with the pink hedgehog once, Sonic knew how ruthless she could be in haggling with the shopkeepers. He felt almost sorry for them by the time she had finished.
They knew that they had been spotted when Amy yet out a delighted yell of "Sonic!". Both dropped their bags immediately, rushing over, showering them with greetings.
"Long time no see," Samantha commented, smiling at them in a relaxed fashion. "How've you been doing? Had any more adventures since we last saw you?"
Sonic grinned broadly. "You have no idea."
Tails butted in between them, glad to be seeing their old friend once more. "Yeah, we've saved the world from the monster of destruction and everything! How are the chao doing?"
"Oh, so-so. They've had a nasty virus running round them recently, but they're not doing too badly considering. It made one or two of them turn out a little ... weird when they evolved though. I'm afraid that some owners abandoned them when they saw what they'd turned out like." Her fists clenched as she spoke. She was passionate about chao, hating to see them mistreated in any way. "How can people be so cruel?" As if only just noticing the ferocious scowl upon her face, she suddenly grinned, sweeping her quills back. It was as if the sun had come out from behind the clouds. "Is this a social call, or are you just defeating the oppressive forces of darkness again? And if so, have you got time for a drink before you go?" She winked at them, flashing her radiant smile once more.
"Believe it or not, we're on holiday," Sonic said.
"Oh goodie!" squeaked Amy. "Does that mean you get to take us out to places then, huh? I'm dying to go to Twinkle Park again; I haven't been there for ages, and you're the only person I've ever beaten at the kart racing."
Sonic scowled, while the others laughed. "You mean you've actually been whupped?" Citras asked him innocently, ducking the swipe that followed. "I didn't think that was possible."
Samantha glanced at him, and to Sonic's delight, her eyes did not refocus in the way that he was accustomed to when people looked at Citras. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before, have we? I'm Samantha, but everyone calls me Sam. This is Amy, my little sister. We're opaline hedgehogs."
"Pleased to meet you. My name's Citras. I think you can guess what I am." Sonic privately thought that this was a good way of skipping any references to his being an android. He was not ashamed of what he was, but he had discovered that people were a lot more cautious of him if they knew.
"Do you want me to show you my new shoes?" Amy danced around Sonic, practically shoving the highheeled platforms into his face. "Aren't they just so cool? I got them really cheap too."
"And dispirited yet another sales assistant," Sonic added, but very quietly. "I suppose they're okay, if you like that kind of thing." Shoes were the one item of dresswear that he would actually enthuse about. He would have loved to be left to his own devices in a shop full of running trainers for him to test out. The blue hedgehog was not well disposed to platforms, though with shoes he was more willing to let 'each to their own'.
"I knew you'd like them."
Presently, the three Freedom Fighters found themselves sitting down to have a snack with Sam and Amy, among the playful chao. Somehow, a lot more of their food seemed to gravitate to the hungry mouths of the little creatures than it did to their own. The chao had already been fed of course, except that did not stop them coming back for more.
"You'll turn Eggman shaped if you carry on like that," Sonic told one chao, of light chaos classification, who was stuffing his face with crisps.
Sonic lifted the bowl out of the chao's reach, shaking a finger at him in a reprimanding way. The chao narrowed his eyes, his life-force sphere transforming into an angry squiggle of rage above his head, then blew a raspberry at the hedgehog. Sam, who had been watching, smirked.
"I guess he doesn't like the thought of that, do you Clove?"
"Huh," muttered the chao. Then his eyes lit up greedily. "If you give me the rest of those crisps back, then I'll tell you something you'll want to know."
"C'mon Clove, don't be greedy now." The chao snorted. "You'll get it back if you promise to share it with the other chao. Clove is Amy's chao," she informed Sonic, as if this explained everything.
"Okay, okay, I promise." Sonic set it back down next to him, and the chao, seizing his chance, sank his little sharp teeth into the hedgehog's thumb. He yelped in surprise and pain. The chao grinned, standing protectively over the crisp bowl, as if daring Sonic to try and take it again.
"Clove!" exclaimed Sam.
"He started it," the chao protested, pointing an accusing chao-paw at Sonic. "Anyway, do you want to know or not?" He continued before either of them could answer. "That person's been again. The one with the half-breed chao." Out of Sonic's sight, Sam shot a frown at the chao.
Sonic looked questioning. "Half breed?"
"A chao that's both light and dark," Sam explained. "It's very rare. As a matter of fact, it hasn't been heard of before." Sonic knew that chao were either light, dark or normal. Light types were white tinted with blue: angelic looking, with a blue halo replacing their life-force sphere and golden wings. Dark chao were black and red with a pointed tail and a squiggle head. These types were extremely mischievous and their life-force sphere was spiked. "Their owner is the benefactor of this chao garden, you see. They bring us money every so often, heaps of it too."
He was curious. "Who are they?"
It was Clove who replied. "She doesn't know. They just turn up in this shimmery cloak. They've never even given us a proper name."
Sonic raised an eyebrow. Sam sighed. "Weird, isn't it? I'm not in a position to dispute them though. I mean, if they're bringing in money to help the chao, I'm not complaining about them being a little ... eccentric."
"Eccentric? That's plain suspicious."
"I know, I know. But what can I do? These chao need care, and that person provides the cash for it. Not all of the chao have owners who pay for them to be kept here after all, and I'm able to keep the price low for people who want to bring their chao here the way the set-up is now. It's how it should be."
Her argument was persuasive, and Sonic shrugged. "I guess so. It just seems strange to me." He did not notice, but Sam seemed relieved that he had stopped questioning her about it.
Smoothly, the opaline hedgehog changed the conversation. "So, how's, what's his name, Knuckles?"
"Oh fine, fine. At least, he was last time I saw him, and that was a month or two ago now. He's been doing a heap of renovation on the Floating Island recently. No time for visitors," he added, with the air of one who has been greatly injured.
She smiled. "No? Too bad." Sam thought for a moment, trying to remember the remaining one of Sonic's friends that she had made the acquaintance of. Ah, she had it. "What about that bat friend of yours? She was sweet, I liked her."
Sonic's face clouded over. "She's not our friend any more," he said, waspishly. Sam blinked, surprised, though she refrained from questioning him about it; it was something which he obviously did not wish to discuss.
"I like your shoes," she told him, partly trying to diffuse the negative atmosphere that her previous comment had elicited, partly because she did actually admire them.
Like his previous shoes, they were in red and white, though these ones had a neon green strip running round the back, over a white covering. They were also differently shaped, having a raised part to the middle of the sole.
"Thanks," said Sonic, looking pleased. "I got them for my last birthday. My old shoes were good, but I'd practically worn them into the ground with all the running I do. I mean, they're built especially to withstand high speeds, but even they can only take so much of Sonic velocity. Still, they'd lasted me quite a few years. These ones are basically the same design as the old ones, but the company's upgraded them several times since my last pair. You should see all the stunts I can pull with them; I haven't had the chance to try half of them out yet, either. They came with a manual a couple of hundred pages thick." He grinned. "But yep, pretty darn cool."
Samantha smiled. Sonic really was into his shoes, in more ways than one.
The others were talking about their arrival in Sapphire City, explaining to Amy about Tails being attacked and Sonic's heroic quick thinking with the bi-plane. Sonic and Samantha broke off their conversation to listen, as Sam was curious about it too.
Upon hearing about Tails being hit by something, preventing him from rescuing Sonic, Samantha sighed deeply, shaking her head. "That'd be one of the gulls," she said. "They're getting to be real pests around the coast lately. They sometimes attack bathers, although not too often. If they thought you were invading their airspace though ... It's a shame no one had warned you. You could have been in even more trouble."
They continued in the telling, Amy squealing in horror and Sam gasping with concern when they reached the part where Sonic nearly fell. Gratified by the attention that he was receiving, the blue hedgehog told this part himself, exaggerating everything just a little. When he had finished with his part, he graciously allowed Citras to finish off.
Citras, who was not used to embroidering tales, summed it up in a single sentence. "I took Tails back to shore and found Sonic there."
"How come you weren't unconscious too?" asked Samantha, curiously. "I mean, if Tails was carrying you at the time and he was out for the count ....?"
There was a pause, as the three Freedom Fighters tried to think up some excuse. "Um, have you ever been to Green Hill? It's a really, uh, green place." Samantha gave Sonic a raised eyebrow look, and he glanced down, looking a little embarrassed.
"I'm an android," Citras explained. He would have had to have told them eventually, he reasoned to himself. A pity it had to be this soon though.
The two girl hedgehogs took it better than he had expected they would. "Really? You don't look like an android, although I'm far from being an expert," commented Sam, genially. Amy, of course, would never dream of thinking that Sonic could possibly keep 'bad company'.
Later, they went for a walk around the city, to show Citras the sites, most notable of all the place where Sonic had first met Chaos. Tails was doubtful that his friend even remembered the exact spot still, though he had to admit it made a good story. It was much better than the fox's "Look, this is where I crashed the Tornado and Sonic had to come and rescue me.". Sometimes the hedgehog had all the luck.
***
Robotnik was doing his smile again. This time, however, it was not for quite the same reasons as before. He was standing, or rather sitting in front of a huge set of sliding metal doors that looked both daunting and impenetrable. To him though, they were neither of those two things.
The scientist was what some cruel people may have called housed inside a grey walker, with two powerful legs and a ready artillery of weapons. Along its sides were the black and yellow striped warning strips that you get in factories, or other places where banging your head against something is a bad idea. It had little other colouring, save for a red lined flashlight mounted upon the front. A small clear screen at the front provided all the cover that he would need in the vehicle. After all, it would take something very powerful to survive the weapons.
Leaning his bulbous figure over, he reached out and tapped a command into the keypad at the side of the doors. Almost instantaneously, they slid noiselessly open. Suspicious despite the precautions that he had taken, Robotnik hesitated before taking up the controls of his walker - the Eggwalker - and manovering it with ease through the door. Its large figure gave no hint as to the agility with which it perform almost any given task.
As he moved towards the next door, nobody was in sight; no indignant voice questioned him. It was almost too simple, and his fears deepened: what if they were waiting for him further in, to attack him en force? No, no, that was impossible. He had to stop being so paranoid. Nobody could possibly know that he was inside: he had timed everything so completely and absolutely that unless someone was late for their shift somewhere, he would not meet anybody. It was unlikely that they would be late too, since the organisation had very strict rules and regulations for conduct, and were not at all tolerant of people who could not be punctual. It was almost a shame. He would quite relish a chance to show off the firepower of his great machine.
It was at about the fifth door that blocked his way that things started to go wrong. His confidence made him careless, which was probably the reason behind his mis-tapping the code for the door. A mere number in the incorrect order, and all the alarms burst into life, whining and howling like electronic dogs.
His smile vanished as he hastily tapped in the right code. The doors slid open, but the damage was already done. Robotnik realised that he was going to have to fight his way through this one. In his mind, he tried to justify his 'mistake' to himself. Of course, it had been his subconscious that had got the code wrong; his supreme brain could never have made such a thing as an error. Yes, it had been his subconscious telling him to do it, so that he would have an opportunity to put his Eggwalker through its paces. That sounded right. The smile returned, tainted with relief that he had solved that discrepancy.
Even as the doors greased across, the corridor beyond was filling with sleek and deadly robots. Upon their chests was emblazoned the initials G.U.N., showing them to the property of the most efficient and ruthless government military organisation on the whole of Mobius. Dotted amongst these were one or two human officials, the same initials branded in leather upon the backs of their uniforms.
Without a second thought, he put the full power of the Eggwalker into motion. Humans and robots alike were blasted aside in the face of the firepower blazing and firing from his machine. His grin broadened. Nothing could stand in the way of his walker, he thought, happily, as another missile found its mark in an authoritative looking robot. This should hardly take any time at all, the way it was going. Still, he reprimanded himself, no need to congratulate his genius just yet - that was when he would be most at risk of making another, more fatal, mistake. Unfortunately, gloating was one of the things he enjoyed most, and self-denial was not one of his best points.
With unconcealed pleasure, he noted that the corridor was now completely cleared of any resistance. Only the smouldering remains of most of the robots and one or two of the humans who had been too slow or too stubborn to flee were left. That would teach them to mess with him, he thought, triumphantly. According to the map of the facilities that sprang up at a jab of the controls, he did not have far to go to reach his goal.
Project: Shadow, the screen read. Well, that did not tell him too much. From what he could gather from his grandfather's untidy scrawl (bad handwriting ran in the family), the project was in fact much more special than it actually sounded. 'The ultimate lifeform' Professor Gerald Robotnik had called it. His excitement had led him to many guesses, some too large to be possible for the size of the base. Still, size was not everything, as he well knew, being skilled with mechanisms. The smallest thing could set off an impressive explosion. He had to admit though, he was expecting something quite large if it was to be the ultimate form of life. Something the size of a Mobian say would just not satisfy his expectations.
He wondered how long it would be before the next squad of G.U.N. soldiers arrived, or the original set took to regroup. The initial team had arrived with unnerving speed, it was true. However, they might not have been expecting to need to use any more soldiers than that. Therefore it might take some time before the next lot came onto the scene.
Robotnik thumbed the pad of the last door, and it slid back, revealing an immense room beyond. Studded panelling, garishly coated wires, neon lights, and steel girders made up the backdrop for the main object of interest in the room: the central structure. It was covered in many buttons and mysterious looking controls, then there was a tall tower behind it, stretching up towards the ceiling. What was at the top, it was hard to say.
Gleefully, he made the Eggwalker run across the distance between him and the control panels in its bounding strides. The gap closed, he proceeded to type a long series of commands into the panel. He did not even need to look at his screen for reference: he had made sure to memorise the code beforehand. His hand was trembling as he keyed in the final numbers. What if it was all to go wrong now, after he had come so far? Or, even worse, if there turned out to be no 'Ultimate Lifeform' and it was merely some jest of his grandfather's making?
Nothing happened. Unsure what to expect, he sank back into his seat, sweat trickling down his face. He did not notice the dark shape standing upon the tower high above him.
"Greetings."
He sat up startled, looking about him to see who had spoken. Glancing upwards, he froze, seeing only the dark figure of a hedgehog. Of course, having been thwarted by Sonic on numerous occasions, he automatically jumped to conclusions.
"Not you," he moaned. "Not now. Why do you always have to come along and spoil everything?" Already his hand was moving towards the controls, ready to fire a missile at the slightest whim.
With an easy leap, the hedgehog jumped from the very top of the tower, landing frog-legged at the bottom. He did not even appear to be jarred by the drop.
At this distance, Robotnik immediately saw his mistake: this hedgehog was not Sonic at all. He was not very different though, so his error could easily be excused. This hedgehog was black, with red stripes that were tinted orange, along with disconcerting red eyes. His chest was furry, unlike Sonic's, and white. He wore the same white gloves, though with red, black and gold handcuffs. The same design was on the top of his shoes, which were black and white, with red and yellow pocked soles.
The apparition stared coolly at him, obviously waiting for him to speak. "Who are you?" Robotnik demanded, recovering from his initial fright.
"I am the ultimate lifeform," the hedgehog told him. His voice was not unnatural, as one might have expected considering his claim. It was as normal as Sonic's. He continued in the same tone. "As for my name, which I think was the actual meaning of your question, I am called Shadow."
"You are the ultimate lifeform?" Robotnik scoffed, sneering at him. There was something about Shadow that cut him short though; perhaps it was the indifferent regard with which the hedgehog held him.
"I am. You did just awaken me, did you not?" The hedgehog directed an air of superiority over the human. Why was he wasting his time with him? This creature was not worthy of talking to the ultimate lifeform. No, no, he was not being fair. If the human had succeeded in passing all of the defence systems and guards that had imprisoned him, then he had to possess some degree of intelligence. He would hear him out, he decided.
"Yes, yes," he snapped, impatiently. "I was hoping for some creature that would help me. I did not bargain for some ... some Mobian."
Shadow ignored this. "To help you to do what, pray?"
Robotnik was not the most secretive of people, nor the most cautious. "To regain possession of this planet," he informed him, bluntly.
"Are you saying that you do not believe that I would be able to achieve such a thing?" Robotnik hesitated. He knew firsthand the devastation that one hedgehog could wreck. Shadow, however, took this as a confirmation of his statement. "Find me anything to test my skill against, and I will do so. You will find that one creature ... one Mobian creature, by creation if not by birth, is not automatically some kind of pushover."
At that moment, there was a loud crash, and the doors were knocked inwards, bending from the pressure applied as if they were made of some much more flexible substance. This sound droned inharmoniously with a digital cry of "Security breach! Security breach! Seek and destroy!"
Robotnik muttered some curse-word under his breath. What had seemed to be a perfect plan was swiftly being ruined by, as he thought, the incompetence of others.
The robot was at least triple the size of a fully-grown human, and consisted of two large mechanical legs, bigger than the machine's actual body, which was roughly triangular in shape. The feet had three mock-toes that spread out on the ground when it put them down, helping it to keep its balance. It was heavily armoured, with a wealth of artillery, including an effective looking energy beam cannon built in to its front, and a double set of missile compartments. There was a cockpit in the machine, for the occasion when it needed to be controlled by a human. As it had some artificial intelligence programmed into it - admittedly about as much as in a computer game - it did not strictly need a person behind its controls. What else it did remained to be seen. It was easy to tell the name of the machine, as it was painted upon nearly every available surface: B-3x. The fighter was also known as Hot Shot, and was a member of the Spider troop.
Upon seeing Shadow, Hot Shot grew more excited. "The Shadow creature has escaped!" it cried. "Seek and destroy! Seek and destroy!"
Robotnik wondered wryly about its limited vocabulary, as well as its ability to turn every sentence into an exclamation. Still, the robot looked pretty vicious. For the first time, doubt began to creep into his mind over whether or not he would be able to beat this opponent.
Luckily for him, he never found out. Shadow ran straight at Hot Shot, taking it by surprise. It fired an energy beam at random, completely failing to hit the speeding hedgehog. Robotnik was impressed. He had never seen any creature but Sonic run that fast. Shadow curled into a spinning ball of spikes and rammed the robot as hard as he could in what would probably pass for its midriff.
Despite its size and weight, it fell backwards, losing its balance: he had hit it at its weak point. This did not daunt it however, as it fired up its hover jets, taking to the air. A second later, the fight had become a show of agility; Hot Shot wheeling about, firing energy beams from its cannon, while Shadow dodged and dived, never once faltering. Judging by the closeness of the blasts, the cannon had a lock-on feature that enabled it to home in on its target. Never once did it manage to so much as scorch its opponent, and it returned to using its feet instead.
Before it had even landed, Shadow had executed a 90 degree turn and came racing back, smashing into it once more with a painful crack of some vital mechanism. The machine slowed, an electronic version of winded. Shadow sped at him once more, ready to deal the killing blow. Without warning, a missile fired, just skimming below his shoes as he jumped smoothly into the air to avoid it. The robot was not given another chance to save itself.
The fight was over, as was clear to the one and only spectator. Robotnik watched as the robot swayed once or twice, then crashed to the floor. One of its legs detached itself as it fell, skidding several yards away from its owner before coming to a stop.
Not a spike out of place, Shadow walked sedately over to him, only making eye contact when he was close enough for it to have the full effect. "Well?"
"That was amazing," Robotnik admitted. "I haven't seen such a display of skill for a long time."
Shadow nodded: this was only to be expected. "Thank you." He spoke with the air of one granting a favour. He held his gaze for a moment longer, until the human was forced to look away, then turned, jogging towards the door.
Robotnik opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by a loud demanding bleep from his com unit. It got the hedgehog's attention however, and he glanced back to see what had made the noise. Without really thinking what he was doing, the scientist hit the 'receive message' button.
Pip's voice came out, loud and clear. "It's me. As in me, being the person who I am, not me as in someone else." Robotnik tried to get his head around this, and failed. The robot bat's logic was purely her own, and nobody else's. "I would have got back to you earlier, but I had a kind of problem, as in somebody stood on my com unit. It was a kind of shame really, as it makes a great weapon, if you drop it from high enough. Anyway, I'm using Mecha's right now, since he's kindly lent it to me. So, did you want something?"
Pip had a habit of talking too fast at times, which made it a little hard to understand her when she was talking for long periods of time. This meant that Robotnik had to let his mind catch up with the words before replying. "I did contact you, but this is an inconvenient time for me-"
"Well, it was an inconvenient time for me," retorted Pip. "I bet they won't even give me the title now."
He did not bother to ask what she was referring to. Time was short on his hands. "I'll contact you again later," he replied. "Stay at base for now."
"Fine then, sentence me to boredom." She cut off.
Since Robotnik was looking down at the com while conversing with the bat, he did not notice Shadow's change of expression. The hedgehog stared fascinated at it, old memories flooding back to him.
A dying human girl, reaching out a hand to him. The other hand was clasped to her bosom, trying without success to stave the endless flow of red liquid. Unbidden, a quote sprang to his mind: 'Who would have thought that she had so much blood in her?' Her face was pale from loss of blood, and she looked tired, ever so tired: Shadow knew in his heart that she was close to death. The girl's hair was fair; the blue aliceband that usually kept it so tidily in place was knocked askew. Her eyes were the colour of forget-me-nots, ironic really, for there was no way that he would ever forget her or her friendship as long as he lived.
"I can't leave you," he whispered, fiercely. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the still corpses of those who had dared to harm his friend. He had destroyed them in rage, but now that was gone, there was only an empty hollowness inside him: sadness.
She shook her pretty head, smiling wanly at him. "Look on the bright side; at least you've got a chance to visit Mobius now you haven't got me to worry about." She had to stop here, turning her head sideways, trying to prevent him seeing the blood that she was coughing up. The girl turned back, and her eyes were misty, clouded over. Her face was serious now, trying to convey the urgency of what she was saying. "Please Shadow. Do it for me. Promise me-"
There the vision ended. The hedgehog's hands curled. "Maria," he said softly to himself, a strange look of sorrow passing across his face. He would keep his promise, he thought. A promise of revenge upon all those people who had so cruelly torn her life away from her.
His mind returning to the present, he spoke aloud to Robotnik. "Who was that?" he demanded. It was Maria, he thought. It had to be. The voice had been hers to the life and breath.
The human did not look concerned. He did not understand his urgency, Shadow thought, angrily. "Oh, just Pip," he said. "She works for me. When she can be bothered," he added, darkly. Remembering his previous train of thoughts, he continued hurriedly. "Now that I've freed you, you are going to help me aren't you?"
Shadow hesitated. This human could help him to get his revenge, he was sure. The clinching thing though was the mysterious 'Pip'. He wished to meet this person who had the voice of Maria. "Meet me on the bridge of the greatest space colony ever created. Meet me on ARK," Shadow told him, then was gone.