Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 4.
"Gathering of the Dark"
By T. Evans.
* * * *
Chapter 1
Location: Somewhere on Mobius
1 Time: Evening
Knuckles picked his way through the abandoned graveyard, occasionally glancing at his emerald radar. There was another fragment around here somewhere.
"Pumpkin Hill. If that isn't a haunted-sounding name, I don't know what is…" Knuckles had had some experience with ghosts in the Sandopolis Zone, but still didn't want to stick around after dark. "Can't find the emerald pieces if I can't see where I'm going," He lied to himself. Fortunately, the emerald radar was saying that the Master Emerald piece was right over…
There!
Knuckles fished around in the weeds behind a leaning tombstone, and came up with another glowing green shard. Handling it carefully so the sharp edges didn't cut through his gloves, he brushed the dirt off the crystal and put it in the cloth bag he was carrying. The piece tinkled against the twenty- five-or-so other bits that were in there.
"I'm lucky Rouge didn't get here first," Knuckles said. He wondered how many other pieces the bat had found, and was surprised to find himself thinking of where she might be. It wasn't like him to care… but there was something about that girl. Knuckles shook his head.
Suddenly, a glint in the air caught the red echidna's eye. A star? No, the light was too bright, and it was too early in the evening. And stars didn't move slowly across the sky. "A satellite, probably," He shrugged. "Nothing important."
Going back to his search, Knuckles had no idea how important that point of light would prove to be.
* * * *
Meanwhile, on board the ARK space colony…
Robotnik's Egg Walker clanked noisily into Control Room 1(a). The room had been simple enough to find because the ARK had been beautifully designed- even though it was now in disrepair. Robotnik had to admire his grandfather's ingenuity in creating this place. It was obvious where his own genius came from.
This room, at the very centre of the space colony, was half filled with water. Four narrow, metal catwalks lead Robotnik's eyes to a dais in the centre of the room, where his attention was grabbed by an impressive construction. A raised platform formed a base for a ring of computer monitors, tubes and strange machinery that had an almost organic look. Illuminated by the shaft of light rising from the centre of the ring, the apparatus looked a lot like the ancient machines of the Emerald Chamber, except that it was shimmering chrome rather than intricately carved stone.
"I've been waiting for you, Doctor," Shadow said, stepping out from the far side of the emerald shaft. He held a green Chaos Emerald. "Not many people know that the ARK contained a facility for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction." The black hedgehog placed the emerald in the shaft of light. "This-" He indicated the machine, "Is the Eclipse cannon- a laser powerful enough to destroy an entire planet." Shadow ran his hand over a panel, and the complex control systems began to glow and pulse like a living thing- like the heart of ARK itself.
"…Destroy an entire planet…" Robotnik breathed, itching to get his hands on the device.
"But," Shadow continued, "It's been deactivated for some time now. To reactivate it… large amounts of Chaos energy are required."
"So that's why we need the Chaos emeralds," Robotnik said. This was a minor setback, but the reward would be greater than Robotnik could ever have imagined. Shadow nodded.
"…And once the emeralds are collected, the person who controls the cannon will control the world."
"I like the way you think, Shadow! Robotnik laughed. Shadow just watched, showing no hint of a smile.
Of course, Robotnik had no intention of sharing the power the Eclipse cannon would give him. However, he didn't think Shadow was a problem. The hedgehog seemed motivated by revenge alone, not the lust for power Robotnik had always experienced- but what were Shadow's real intentions? Who was using who?
The mad scientist's thoughts were cut short by a voice from above.
"Do you really think it'll be that easy?" Both Robotnik and Shadow looked up to see a female bat hanging from the ceiling. The bat fluttered her wings and drifted down to hover a few feet above them. "I'm Rouge the bat," She smiled. "But you can call me Rouge."
"What?!" Robotnik exclaimed. "How did you get in here?"
"That's not important," She replied. "We could be in a position to help each other." Shadow gave her a semi-interested stare, and Robotnik grunted sceptically.
"Who do you think you are?"
"A treasure hunter, who specialises…" Unexpectedly, Rouge produced a Chaos Emerald from behind her back. "…In all kinds of jewels."
"Ah…" Robotnik said. Perhaps another ally had presented itself. "Perhaps you can be of help. Come! It's time to plan." With that, Robotnik turned his Egg Walker and stomped out of the room. Only two more Chaos Emeralds had to be found before the Eclipse Cannon could be put to work.
As they left, Shadow caught Rouge staring at him. He returned her gaze with a menacing, red-eyed glare.
"What?" He growled.
"Oh… nothing," The bat replied innocently, turning away to hide a smirk. Time for phase two of her mission.
Shadow glanced at her again for a second, and shook his head.
"She's up to something," He thought. "And I'm going to find out what…"
* * * *
2 Chapter 2
Location: Emerald hill Zone, Sonic's base.
Time: I5 hours later
"Oh Sonic… where are you?" Amy moaned, green eyes wide with concern as she paced back and forth. "Sonic's been missing for two days now. Something must have happened!" Tails sat on the nearby couch, also lost in thought and paying no attention to the chattering television in the corner.
"He's probably fine. This is Sonic we're talking about," He reassured the pink hedgehog. "Kintobor says the Chaos Emerald isn't in the Metropolis Zone anymore. Sonic must have found it, no problem." Tails grinned. "He's probably out partying somewhere." Despite his words, Tails was worried about his friend. In his mind there were three possibilities. Sonic might have located a second Chaos Emerald, and gone to track it down. But that wasn't likely, because Sonic would have contacted the others first. That left two options- either Sonic had run into some major trouble, or he was exercising his weird sense of humour again. Tails sighed. It was difficult to think about it with someone talking loudly about Chaos Emeralds.
Chaos Emeralds?!
Tails and Amy's eyes fixed on the TV, which was showing some pictures of the Metropolis Zone.
"…Sonic the Hedgehog has been charged with the theft of the emerald, and is being detained in the maximum-security Prison Island facility…" The announcer continued.
"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed. Tails was equally shocked.
"I know Sonic can be a bit reckless sometimes, but he wouldn't just break in and steal the emerald… would he?" Thought the fox. No, there was no way Sonic would have done that.
"Come on, Amy!" Tails yelled, trying to sound as brave and heroic as possible as he headed for the door. "We have to rescue Sonic!" Amy nodded, grabbed her crossbow and followed Tails to the hangar beneath Tekno's secret lab.
Tails' new plane hadn't been tested yet, but there was no time for that now. A door in the hillside opened, and the Cyclone soared into the distance…
* * * *
In the maximum-security facility on Prison Island, Sonic paced back and forth in his cell.
"I can't believe this. I must be losing my touch or somethin'," He grumbled. "Arrested twice in as many days. And this time the humans didn't take any chances." Sonic remembered the ease of his escape from the helicopter the first time he'd been captured.
He hadn't been so lucky the second time. "I hate to admit it, but those humes aren't as stupid as they look," Sonic thought, rubbing his wrists, which still ached dully. This time, Sonic had spent the entire journey wearing handcuffs designed to give him an electric shock every time he moved, so there had been no chance for Sonic to wriggle free. The guards had removed them when they'd put him in this dungeon, knowing they weren't needed.
For the fiftieth time, Sonic looked around the dingy cell, and his eyes fixed on the shimmering air just beyond the metal bars. Sonic's spin attack could have smashed the bars easily, but the field beyond, insubstantial as a heat haze, was more dangerous than it looked.
When Sonic had been brought here, his Chaos-sense had told him there was a Chaos Emerald somewhere on the island. But since that force field had been activated, Sonic hadn't been able to sense anything at all. Only a powerful electromagnetic field could block Chaos energy like that- the same kind of effect had rendered Super Sonic powerless for several months, and Porker had been able to use it to temporarily neutralise the Chaos creature.
"My own powers are working against me," he scowled. The encounter with Chaos that had turned Sonic's eyes green and allowed him to perform the Lightspeed Attack had also left him dependant on Chaos energy for survival. Earlier, he'd tested his theory by putting his hand through the bars- even touching the field had left him feeling drained for hours. Sonic didn't want to know what it would do to him if he tried to run through it. "I guess I'm stuck here," he sighed, "It's as if the room was designed to keep me in." The electromagnetic field, however, was outside the cell, and enveloped the locking mechanism. "Or out," Sonic added, frowning. "But that doesn't make any sense, this place is so old…" Shaking his head in confusion, Sonic turned his attention to the rest of the cell. The walls, floor and ceiling were solid metal -no escape there. His gaze fell on the writing scrawled on the walls. To ease the boredom, he decided to read it.
Instead of ordinary prison-wall graffiti, it was all technical stuff, design specifications and other things Sonic didn't understand. What wasn't written in techno-speak didn't make sense, like the ravings of a madman.
Something suddenly caught Sonic's eye. It was a signature.
"Dr. Gerald Kintobor," he read. Above that were the words 'project Shadow', and a strange symbol. All the pieces suddenly slotted into place and Sonic's eyes widened in surprise. "No way," he breathed. "Shadow is the special project Dr. Gerald was working on?" Sonic took another look around the cell. "Of course! If Dr. Gerald was locked up here, this cell must have been designed to stop Shadow from rescuing his creator…" Sonic frowned. That had been so long ago. Why had Shadow turned up now, fifty years later? And why hadn't he aged at all? Shaking his head, Sonic thought about how he'd wanted to find out what Dr. Gerald had been working on. Well, now he had his answer. And he didn't like it one bit.
"I wonder what really happened on ARK?"
But that was one question that would have to wait. Sonic's ears pricked up as he heard something big coming his way…
* * * *
3 Chapter 3
Location: Prison Island
Time: a few minutes earlier
"There's something weird going on here," Shade Phoenix said as he guided his hover bike to a landing. Sparky the Chao landed beside it, folding his small wings.
"OK, let's see…" The brown hedgehog dismounted, and looked around at the foreboding metal structures of the old prison, which were in a large clearing in the jungle. "I'm getting a strong signal from a Chaos Emerald over there…" He gazed off in the direction of the military base. "But Sonic's energy has disappeared, like something's blocking it. Hmmm…" Sparky looked up at his friend, and mewed something.
"Don't ask me, Sparks." Shade replied, eyes thoughtful behind his sunglasses. "Could be an electromagnetic field, I suppose. But Sonic's definitely around here somewhere-" Shade words stopped mid-sentence, and he dived for cover behind an old lookout tower.
Three figures slowly began to materialise. The blurred shapes snapped into focus, becoming solid- and Shade could see they were Robotnik in some sort of mechanical walking device, Shadow and some bat girl he'd never seen before. "Looks like Shadow keeps bad company," Shade whispered from his hiding place- now wishing he'd stopped the other hedgehog from stealing the Chaos Emerald. The sinister trio began to talk amongst themselves.
"Coming back wasn't my idea of a good time," Robotnik growled. "Rouge, what makes you think the Chaos Emerald is here?" The bat girl touched a device she wore on her head, which looked like the kind of radio mike you see reporters wearing. Only this one had a green lens that covered one of her eyes.
"I know. Trust me, it's here." Rouge replied.
"We'll find out soon enough," Robotnik nodded. "Here's the plan. Rouge, you sneak into the military base and find the emerald, while Shadow…" Shadow turned slightly, giving Robotnik a sidelong glance. "…Will place these dynamite packs around the island. I'll… er… supervise the mission from here. Then, KABOOM! We escape with the emerald while the island is in, well, chaos." Rouge nodded and took flight as Robotnik reached into his cockpit for a number of small but powerful bombs, which he handed to Shadow.
"Oh, great." Shade muttered, as Sparky began making urgent noises, jumping up and down and pulling on Shade's denim jacket. "Sssh! Do you want them to find us?!" Shade hissed. Sparky just carried on, even louder. "All right, all right! I'll look over there! I… uh oh." Shade had looked. "What are they doing here?"
* * * *
The small blue and yellow aeroplane came in for a landing on the cracked tarmac, as Shadow and Robotnik turned to face it. The streamlined jet was not a biplane, but there was no doubt as to it belonged to because it had 'Tails' painted on the fuselage.
As the engine noise died away, the orange fox pushed a button and the plane began to change shape. The wings retracted, the landing gear lowered and the end result was a walking machine similar to Robotnik's.
Amy Rose squeezed out of the tiny cockpit that she'd been sharing with Tails, and dropped to the ground. The sun was in her eyes, so she squinted to make out the two figures in front of her.
"Sonic?"
Well, who else could that streamlined silhouette belong to? "Oh, Sonic!!" She yelled, putting her arms around the other hedgehog. He brushed her aside, taking a smooth pace backwards. The eyes that met Amy's were cold and unnervingly red. "Wha-? You're not Sonic! Who are you?" Amy scrambled back, embarrassed and scared. Tails' walker took a hesitant step forwards.
"Not so fast, fox," Robotnik growled. The cannon on his machine swivelled to point at Amy. The weapon on the nose of the Cyclone targeted Robotnik. Stalemate!
"Hey Robotnik!!" A voice yelled suddenly. The small group scattered as a speeding, but strangely silent motorbike hurtled into their midst, Robotnik's clumsy walker barely getting out of the way. The bike shot past, screeched around in a tight circle and headed for the mad scientist again. "What're you waiting for, fuzzball?!" Yelled the odd-looking brown hedgehog as his vehicle whipped past Tails. "Get outta here, NOW!" As Robotnik evaded the high-tech Harley for the second time, Shadow recognised the rider.
"You again?" He hissed, giving chase. Both hedgehogs disappeared into the jungle with a crashing of foliage.
With his protection gone, Robotnik's cowardice came into play.
"I'll let you go this time," He snarled, "Next time, you won't be so lucky!" Small jet boosters ignited in the feet of the walker, and it too disappeared into the ocean of trees.
"What was that all about?" Tails said, as the crashing of broken branches receded into the distance. "The guy with the shades looked kinda familiar. I wonder who he was?" Tails shook his head. "But I've never seen that black hedgehog before." Then he laughed. "We should get you some glasses, Amy!" Tails grinned, while Amy glared at him.
"It's not my fault," She sulked. "The sun was in my eyes. Besides, the guy did look like Sonic…" Amy shivered, even though the sun was hot. "But that look in his eyes was … weird. Sad somehow."
"I don't know," Tails said doubtfully. "He just looked crazy to me… and he was with Robotnik."
"Yeah, I guess," Amy replied. "But he's gone now, and we need to rescue Sonic."
Tails' walker turned and strode purposefully into the prison complex, with Amy close behind. They had a job to do…
To be continued…
Tails & Amy break Sonic out of jail, while Rouge gets into trouble. Who will save her before the island explodes?
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, part 5- 'Jailhouse Rock'
"Gathering of the Dark"
By T. Evans.
* * * *
Chapter 1
Location: Somewhere on Mobius
1 Time: Evening
Knuckles picked his way through the abandoned graveyard, occasionally glancing at his emerald radar. There was another fragment around here somewhere.
"Pumpkin Hill. If that isn't a haunted-sounding name, I don't know what is…" Knuckles had had some experience with ghosts in the Sandopolis Zone, but still didn't want to stick around after dark. "Can't find the emerald pieces if I can't see where I'm going," He lied to himself. Fortunately, the emerald radar was saying that the Master Emerald piece was right over…
There!
Knuckles fished around in the weeds behind a leaning tombstone, and came up with another glowing green shard. Handling it carefully so the sharp edges didn't cut through his gloves, he brushed the dirt off the crystal and put it in the cloth bag he was carrying. The piece tinkled against the twenty- five-or-so other bits that were in there.
"I'm lucky Rouge didn't get here first," Knuckles said. He wondered how many other pieces the bat had found, and was surprised to find himself thinking of where she might be. It wasn't like him to care… but there was something about that girl. Knuckles shook his head.
Suddenly, a glint in the air caught the red echidna's eye. A star? No, the light was too bright, and it was too early in the evening. And stars didn't move slowly across the sky. "A satellite, probably," He shrugged. "Nothing important."
Going back to his search, Knuckles had no idea how important that point of light would prove to be.
* * * *
Meanwhile, on board the ARK space colony…
Robotnik's Egg Walker clanked noisily into Control Room 1(a). The room had been simple enough to find because the ARK had been beautifully designed- even though it was now in disrepair. Robotnik had to admire his grandfather's ingenuity in creating this place. It was obvious where his own genius came from.
This room, at the very centre of the space colony, was half filled with water. Four narrow, metal catwalks lead Robotnik's eyes to a dais in the centre of the room, where his attention was grabbed by an impressive construction. A raised platform formed a base for a ring of computer monitors, tubes and strange machinery that had an almost organic look. Illuminated by the shaft of light rising from the centre of the ring, the apparatus looked a lot like the ancient machines of the Emerald Chamber, except that it was shimmering chrome rather than intricately carved stone.
"I've been waiting for you, Doctor," Shadow said, stepping out from the far side of the emerald shaft. He held a green Chaos Emerald. "Not many people know that the ARK contained a facility for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction." The black hedgehog placed the emerald in the shaft of light. "This-" He indicated the machine, "Is the Eclipse cannon- a laser powerful enough to destroy an entire planet." Shadow ran his hand over a panel, and the complex control systems began to glow and pulse like a living thing- like the heart of ARK itself.
"…Destroy an entire planet…" Robotnik breathed, itching to get his hands on the device.
"But," Shadow continued, "It's been deactivated for some time now. To reactivate it… large amounts of Chaos energy are required."
"So that's why we need the Chaos emeralds," Robotnik said. This was a minor setback, but the reward would be greater than Robotnik could ever have imagined. Shadow nodded.
"…And once the emeralds are collected, the person who controls the cannon will control the world."
"I like the way you think, Shadow! Robotnik laughed. Shadow just watched, showing no hint of a smile.
Of course, Robotnik had no intention of sharing the power the Eclipse cannon would give him. However, he didn't think Shadow was a problem. The hedgehog seemed motivated by revenge alone, not the lust for power Robotnik had always experienced- but what were Shadow's real intentions? Who was using who?
The mad scientist's thoughts were cut short by a voice from above.
"Do you really think it'll be that easy?" Both Robotnik and Shadow looked up to see a female bat hanging from the ceiling. The bat fluttered her wings and drifted down to hover a few feet above them. "I'm Rouge the bat," She smiled. "But you can call me Rouge."
"What?!" Robotnik exclaimed. "How did you get in here?"
"That's not important," She replied. "We could be in a position to help each other." Shadow gave her a semi-interested stare, and Robotnik grunted sceptically.
"Who do you think you are?"
"A treasure hunter, who specialises…" Unexpectedly, Rouge produced a Chaos Emerald from behind her back. "…In all kinds of jewels."
"Ah…" Robotnik said. Perhaps another ally had presented itself. "Perhaps you can be of help. Come! It's time to plan." With that, Robotnik turned his Egg Walker and stomped out of the room. Only two more Chaos Emeralds had to be found before the Eclipse Cannon could be put to work.
As they left, Shadow caught Rouge staring at him. He returned her gaze with a menacing, red-eyed glare.
"What?" He growled.
"Oh… nothing," The bat replied innocently, turning away to hide a smirk. Time for phase two of her mission.
Shadow glanced at her again for a second, and shook his head.
"She's up to something," He thought. "And I'm going to find out what…"
* * * *
2 Chapter 2
Location: Emerald hill Zone, Sonic's base.
Time: I5 hours later
"Oh Sonic… where are you?" Amy moaned, green eyes wide with concern as she paced back and forth. "Sonic's been missing for two days now. Something must have happened!" Tails sat on the nearby couch, also lost in thought and paying no attention to the chattering television in the corner.
"He's probably fine. This is Sonic we're talking about," He reassured the pink hedgehog. "Kintobor says the Chaos Emerald isn't in the Metropolis Zone anymore. Sonic must have found it, no problem." Tails grinned. "He's probably out partying somewhere." Despite his words, Tails was worried about his friend. In his mind there were three possibilities. Sonic might have located a second Chaos Emerald, and gone to track it down. But that wasn't likely, because Sonic would have contacted the others first. That left two options- either Sonic had run into some major trouble, or he was exercising his weird sense of humour again. Tails sighed. It was difficult to think about it with someone talking loudly about Chaos Emeralds.
Chaos Emeralds?!
Tails and Amy's eyes fixed on the TV, which was showing some pictures of the Metropolis Zone.
"…Sonic the Hedgehog has been charged with the theft of the emerald, and is being detained in the maximum-security Prison Island facility…" The announcer continued.
"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed. Tails was equally shocked.
"I know Sonic can be a bit reckless sometimes, but he wouldn't just break in and steal the emerald… would he?" Thought the fox. No, there was no way Sonic would have done that.
"Come on, Amy!" Tails yelled, trying to sound as brave and heroic as possible as he headed for the door. "We have to rescue Sonic!" Amy nodded, grabbed her crossbow and followed Tails to the hangar beneath Tekno's secret lab.
Tails' new plane hadn't been tested yet, but there was no time for that now. A door in the hillside opened, and the Cyclone soared into the distance…
* * * *
In the maximum-security facility on Prison Island, Sonic paced back and forth in his cell.
"I can't believe this. I must be losing my touch or somethin'," He grumbled. "Arrested twice in as many days. And this time the humans didn't take any chances." Sonic remembered the ease of his escape from the helicopter the first time he'd been captured.
He hadn't been so lucky the second time. "I hate to admit it, but those humes aren't as stupid as they look," Sonic thought, rubbing his wrists, which still ached dully. This time, Sonic had spent the entire journey wearing handcuffs designed to give him an electric shock every time he moved, so there had been no chance for Sonic to wriggle free. The guards had removed them when they'd put him in this dungeon, knowing they weren't needed.
For the fiftieth time, Sonic looked around the dingy cell, and his eyes fixed on the shimmering air just beyond the metal bars. Sonic's spin attack could have smashed the bars easily, but the field beyond, insubstantial as a heat haze, was more dangerous than it looked.
When Sonic had been brought here, his Chaos-sense had told him there was a Chaos Emerald somewhere on the island. But since that force field had been activated, Sonic hadn't been able to sense anything at all. Only a powerful electromagnetic field could block Chaos energy like that- the same kind of effect had rendered Super Sonic powerless for several months, and Porker had been able to use it to temporarily neutralise the Chaos creature.
"My own powers are working against me," he scowled. The encounter with Chaos that had turned Sonic's eyes green and allowed him to perform the Lightspeed Attack had also left him dependant on Chaos energy for survival. Earlier, he'd tested his theory by putting his hand through the bars- even touching the field had left him feeling drained for hours. Sonic didn't want to know what it would do to him if he tried to run through it. "I guess I'm stuck here," he sighed, "It's as if the room was designed to keep me in." The electromagnetic field, however, was outside the cell, and enveloped the locking mechanism. "Or out," Sonic added, frowning. "But that doesn't make any sense, this place is so old…" Shaking his head in confusion, Sonic turned his attention to the rest of the cell. The walls, floor and ceiling were solid metal -no escape there. His gaze fell on the writing scrawled on the walls. To ease the boredom, he decided to read it.
Instead of ordinary prison-wall graffiti, it was all technical stuff, design specifications and other things Sonic didn't understand. What wasn't written in techno-speak didn't make sense, like the ravings of a madman.
Something suddenly caught Sonic's eye. It was a signature.
"Dr. Gerald Kintobor," he read. Above that were the words 'project Shadow', and a strange symbol. All the pieces suddenly slotted into place and Sonic's eyes widened in surprise. "No way," he breathed. "Shadow is the special project Dr. Gerald was working on?" Sonic took another look around the cell. "Of course! If Dr. Gerald was locked up here, this cell must have been designed to stop Shadow from rescuing his creator…" Sonic frowned. That had been so long ago. Why had Shadow turned up now, fifty years later? And why hadn't he aged at all? Shaking his head, Sonic thought about how he'd wanted to find out what Dr. Gerald had been working on. Well, now he had his answer. And he didn't like it one bit.
"I wonder what really happened on ARK?"
But that was one question that would have to wait. Sonic's ears pricked up as he heard something big coming his way…
* * * *
3 Chapter 3
Location: Prison Island
Time: a few minutes earlier
"There's something weird going on here," Shade Phoenix said as he guided his hover bike to a landing. Sparky the Chao landed beside it, folding his small wings.
"OK, let's see…" The brown hedgehog dismounted, and looked around at the foreboding metal structures of the old prison, which were in a large clearing in the jungle. "I'm getting a strong signal from a Chaos Emerald over there…" He gazed off in the direction of the military base. "But Sonic's energy has disappeared, like something's blocking it. Hmmm…" Sparky looked up at his friend, and mewed something.
"Don't ask me, Sparks." Shade replied, eyes thoughtful behind his sunglasses. "Could be an electromagnetic field, I suppose. But Sonic's definitely around here somewhere-" Shade words stopped mid-sentence, and he dived for cover behind an old lookout tower.
Three figures slowly began to materialise. The blurred shapes snapped into focus, becoming solid- and Shade could see they were Robotnik in some sort of mechanical walking device, Shadow and some bat girl he'd never seen before. "Looks like Shadow keeps bad company," Shade whispered from his hiding place- now wishing he'd stopped the other hedgehog from stealing the Chaos Emerald. The sinister trio began to talk amongst themselves.
"Coming back wasn't my idea of a good time," Robotnik growled. "Rouge, what makes you think the Chaos Emerald is here?" The bat girl touched a device she wore on her head, which looked like the kind of radio mike you see reporters wearing. Only this one had a green lens that covered one of her eyes.
"I know. Trust me, it's here." Rouge replied.
"We'll find out soon enough," Robotnik nodded. "Here's the plan. Rouge, you sneak into the military base and find the emerald, while Shadow…" Shadow turned slightly, giving Robotnik a sidelong glance. "…Will place these dynamite packs around the island. I'll… er… supervise the mission from here. Then, KABOOM! We escape with the emerald while the island is in, well, chaos." Rouge nodded and took flight as Robotnik reached into his cockpit for a number of small but powerful bombs, which he handed to Shadow.
"Oh, great." Shade muttered, as Sparky began making urgent noises, jumping up and down and pulling on Shade's denim jacket. "Sssh! Do you want them to find us?!" Shade hissed. Sparky just carried on, even louder. "All right, all right! I'll look over there! I… uh oh." Shade had looked. "What are they doing here?"
* * * *
The small blue and yellow aeroplane came in for a landing on the cracked tarmac, as Shadow and Robotnik turned to face it. The streamlined jet was not a biplane, but there was no doubt as to it belonged to because it had 'Tails' painted on the fuselage.
As the engine noise died away, the orange fox pushed a button and the plane began to change shape. The wings retracted, the landing gear lowered and the end result was a walking machine similar to Robotnik's.
Amy Rose squeezed out of the tiny cockpit that she'd been sharing with Tails, and dropped to the ground. The sun was in her eyes, so she squinted to make out the two figures in front of her.
"Sonic?"
Well, who else could that streamlined silhouette belong to? "Oh, Sonic!!" She yelled, putting her arms around the other hedgehog. He brushed her aside, taking a smooth pace backwards. The eyes that met Amy's were cold and unnervingly red. "Wha-? You're not Sonic! Who are you?" Amy scrambled back, embarrassed and scared. Tails' walker took a hesitant step forwards.
"Not so fast, fox," Robotnik growled. The cannon on his machine swivelled to point at Amy. The weapon on the nose of the Cyclone targeted Robotnik. Stalemate!
"Hey Robotnik!!" A voice yelled suddenly. The small group scattered as a speeding, but strangely silent motorbike hurtled into their midst, Robotnik's clumsy walker barely getting out of the way. The bike shot past, screeched around in a tight circle and headed for the mad scientist again. "What're you waiting for, fuzzball?!" Yelled the odd-looking brown hedgehog as his vehicle whipped past Tails. "Get outta here, NOW!" As Robotnik evaded the high-tech Harley for the second time, Shadow recognised the rider.
"You again?" He hissed, giving chase. Both hedgehogs disappeared into the jungle with a crashing of foliage.
With his protection gone, Robotnik's cowardice came into play.
"I'll let you go this time," He snarled, "Next time, you won't be so lucky!" Small jet boosters ignited in the feet of the walker, and it too disappeared into the ocean of trees.
"What was that all about?" Tails said, as the crashing of broken branches receded into the distance. "The guy with the shades looked kinda familiar. I wonder who he was?" Tails shook his head. "But I've never seen that black hedgehog before." Then he laughed. "We should get you some glasses, Amy!" Tails grinned, while Amy glared at him.
"It's not my fault," She sulked. "The sun was in my eyes. Besides, the guy did look like Sonic…" Amy shivered, even though the sun was hot. "But that look in his eyes was … weird. Sad somehow."
"I don't know," Tails said doubtfully. "He just looked crazy to me… and he was with Robotnik."
"Yeah, I guess," Amy replied. "But he's gone now, and we need to rescue Sonic."
Tails' walker turned and strode purposefully into the prison complex, with Amy close behind. They had a job to do…
To be continued…
Tails & Amy break Sonic out of jail, while Rouge gets into trouble. Who will save her before the island explodes?
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, part 5- 'Jailhouse Rock'