Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 9.
"Darkness and Light"
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.
* * * *
Chapter 1
Location: Space Colony ARK, Control Room 1b
Cannon Countdown: 6 hours
"The real Chaos Emerald, if you please?" Robotnik grinned.
Amy barely even heard him. She was on her knees on the cold metal floor, staring blankly into space. Through the window, the last traces of the distant explosion had faded away, but still it played over and over in her mind.
Sonic was gone…
Really gone.
The pink hedgehog did not go into hysterics, as she would have expected. The emotion had hit her and gone. Everything seemed distant now, and strangely calm.
No coming back this time…
She remembered when they had first met. Back then, Amy had had a silly crush on the teenaged Sonic, with his unique looks, courage and rebellious attitude. Over time, the crush had turned into friendship and respect; recently, it may have become something more than that. She had always wondered if he felt the same way- Sonic's last words to her had suggested as much…
But now she would never know…
Across the room, Robotnik's walker advanced on an equally distraught Tails. Amy gazed at them dully.
"My readings tell me," the mad scientist began, "That you have the emerald in that degenerate tin can of yours. Give it to me."
The fox raised his head. The last thing he wanted to do now was fight, he felt like curling into a ball and staying put.
But he had promised…
Tails made his walker get to its feet. He was scared- after all, what could he do without Sonic? -But he knew it was all up to him now.
"No way, Robotnik." He said, voice wavering a little as he tried to put as much conviction into the words as possible. "Sonic asked me to do something for him. I won't let him down!" Tails reminded himself of what Robotnik had done to the hedgehog. Sonic, who had saved Tails' life on the first day they met, and who had been his best friend ever since. Now, looking at Robotnik the murderer, the young fox found that he actually wanted to fight.
"That means that if you want the Chaos Emerald, you'll have to take it from me."
Robotnik snarled. The two adversaries circled, the weapons of each machine trained on the other. The blue and yellow Cyclone and the grey Egg Walker seemed equally matched, but the real test was yet to come…
Tails fired the first shot. Robotnik's machine ducked clumsily, and the energy blast pinged off the reinforced window. Cursing as the Egg Walker swung out of the way, Tails took aim once more.
This time, Robotnik's device rocked back like a wounded dinosaur as the shot smacked home, impacting below the windscreen and shattering the single headlight.
Strangely, Robotnik laughed as he regained his balance.
"Face it, that relic can't compete with my technology."
"Aaah!" Tails shielded his face as a volley of rapid-fire shots thudded into the Cyclone's side. Checking the dials in the cockpit, the two-tailed pilot was relieved to find that the tough craft hadn't sustained major damage.
Tails retaliated with a homing beam, which hit the leg of the Egg Walker, causing it to list to one side. The grey machine took a lurching step forwards and fired another stream of missiles, while Tails pushed his own craft into a lumbering run. The missiles plummeted harmlessly into the floor.
The Cyclone's cockpit swivelled towards Robotnik as Tails circled the perimeter of the room.
The Egg Walker's legs were it's weak spot, Tails thought. It was already damaged- if he could take its legs out from under it, Robotnik would be finished.
A laser beam narrowly missed Tails' head. The fox made a sharp turn, cutting across the middle of the room. Coming in for the kill.
He didn't think about the legs of his own walker…
Suddenly, the cockpit shuddered. Mistakenly thinking he had taken a hit, Tails checked his readouts. Nothing wrong.
The Cyclone attempted to take a step forward, and there was a hideous screech of tearing metal.
Servos screamed in protest as the machine tipped over and collapsed, the front crumpling against the floor. Tails, finding his nose inches from the ground, hastily scrambled out of the cockpit to inspect the damage.
"Oh, no…" he groaned, seeing the wreckage of the Cyclone's left leg. The metallic foot must have got caught in the join in the floor that marked where the escape pods were launched. The walker had torn itself apart trying to get free, leaving a mass of twisted metal and sparking wires.
Tails' battle had been ended by the same thing that had caused Sonic's downfall.
And it got worse…
Tails looked up, only to see that the box containing the blue Chaos Emerald had been thrown clear. It skidded across the room, coming to a halt at the feet of the Egg Walker.
Tails groaned. Robotnik chuckled, and making the machine bend down, scooped up the precious box.
"Now, what have we here?" he gloated, checking the contents. His round face split into an ugly grin. "Thank you for providing me with this." The walker began to limp towards the door. Before leaving, Robotnik paused and looked back. Tails, whose face was a picture of misery, and Amy, still in shock, stared up at him.
"Now I have the six Chaos Emeralds, I can show those ungrateful wretches on Mobius what the Eclipse Cannon is really capable of." As he thought for a moment, the human waved a hand at the large, round window, through which Planet Mobius was visible. "I think I'll leave you two in here. That way, you can watch me wipe the Emerald Hill Zone off the face of the planet." With that, Robotnik chuckled and left the room, the door sliding shut and locking behind him. The two animals heard the footsteps of the Egg Walker fade into the distance as Robotnik made his way to the cannon control room.
"What now?" Amy said finally, coming out of her trance a little. Tails gave her a hopeless look. His two tails dragged on the floor as he walked over to the Cyclone wreckage, and he sat sullenly on it.
"Now nothing." He moaned, staring at the floor. "I promised Sonic I'd stop that madman, and I failed him."
Tails lifted his head to stare out of the window, and his eyes were bright with tears.
"Looks like Robotnik has won after all."
* * * *
A few minutes earlier…
The small escape pod blasted out of the underside of ARK. It began to spin, end over end, but it's artificial gravity kept its contents firmly attached to the floor. Machinery built into the capsule could provide enough breathable air to reach the planet below.
Neither device was required to work for long this time, though.
Inside the small capsule, Sonic had a dizzying, alternating view of Mobius and ARK. The capsule was moving away from the space colony at alarming speed, and when it was far enough away, it was going to explode…
Sonic thought morbidly that this was the last time he would see Planet Mobius.
"No, I mustn't think like that," he told himself firmly. There had to be a way out of this, somehow. He'd been in worse situations.
Hadn't he?!
This was one time when Sonic was prepared to admit that he was afraid. There was nothing but cold, empty space out there, but he still felt like trying to break out of that capsule- space or no space. Not that it would do him any good; the pod would blow up the moment he touched the force field.
"Arghhh," he thought.
Sonic forced himself to calm down and think rationally. He found himself feeling fiercely jealous of Shadow, he wouldn't have any problem escaping…
Sonic's gaze was drawn to the fake Chaos Emerald that was in the capsule with him.
"Shadow? I wonder…"
Maybe he could do it. After all, Sonic's abilities were very similar to Shadow's, so why shouldn't it work? Especially with an energy boost from the fake emerald, which contained at least some Chaos energy?
An alarm began to sound in the escape pod. No more time to think. Sonic grabbed the yellow emerald in both hands, allowing its' energy to flow through him. At the same time, he tapped into his own reserves of power as if he was going to use the Lightspeed Attack.
The hedgehog desperately concentrated on being somewhere else, it didn't matter where- as long as wasn't in that capsule!
"Chaos control!" he yelled.
Too late… the alarm was suddenly louder, much louder, then it cut off altogether. Sonic saw the capsule's surrounding force field begin to glow a brilliant, deadly white--
Then he shuddered as a wave of Chaos energy passed through him, there was a strange wrenching sensation, and he was out of there.
* * * *
At first, Sonic wondered where he was. Then he realised that he wasn't really anywhere at all. It was an emerald-coloured nothingness, something like the limbo between timelines that he had travelled through when using the Time Stone- except that there he had had a body. Here, in this realm of Chaos, he existed as a disembodied consciousness, a being of pure energy.
And that energy was quickly fading…
Something was wrong; he should have re-materialised somewhere by now. Sonic couldn't stay in this strange plane of reality for long. Soon, he realised, he would be absorbed into the nothingness.
His escape route was turning into yet another trap!
Concentrating, Sonic found that he could sense things in the real world. He figured that must be how Chaos Control worked. You had to choose somewhere, then travel to it using this green limbo.
He could sense Planet Mobius below, but knew he didn't have enough energy to reach it. ARK was nearer, the Chaos Emeralds shining out like brilliant lights. Again, Sonic wasn't sure if he could make it. Besides, he didn't want to risk re-appearing inside the Eclipse Cannon itself, which could be deadly.
Panicking a little, Sonic frantically sought somewhere to go.
Suddenly, something changed- a nearby Chaos signal abruptly strengthened into a glowing beacon…
Sonic didn't know what it was, but it was close. He struck out for this light in the dark…
* * * *
Chapter 2
Location: Outside surface of ARK
Time: A few seconds earlier
Knuckles examined the small, green shard in his hand. Sharp and roughly triangular, it didn't look like much- but the echidna knew how vitally important it was.
This was the final piece of the jigsaw…
He stood up and regarded the nearly complete Master Emerald, which was covered in a spiderweb of cracks. Now was the moment of truth, now he would discover if he could really restore the seventh Chaos Emerald.
Before he could put the fragment into it's rightful place, however, something caught his eye.
In the distance, a silvery speck arced past, then exploded in a small flare of light.
He shrugged. It was probably just debris, nothing important.
With that, the scarlet echidna slipped the emerald shard into the notch in the side of the Master Emerald, stood back, and waited.
For a moment or so, nothing happened. Knuckles was crestfallen- perhaps there were more pieces to find, or maybe he was just attempting the impossible.
Then…
The emerald began to glow a brilliant, frightening green. The radiance became steadily brighter, until Knuckles had to shade his indigo eyes from the glare. Quickly, however, it faded back to the usual eerie glow of a Chaos Emerald.
The monotreme examined the large, green gem. It was a little smaller than usual, because its energy was drained, but apart from that it was perfect. There were no chips, and no cracks marred the surface. The Master Emerald was healed and whole once more.
Normally serious, Knuckles allowed himself a whoop of triumph and punched the air.
"Yess!!"
But then he frowned. Something was happening--
"What the…"
There was a fitful green glow in the air, about two metres off the floor. It flickered, dimming almost to nothing, then became brighter until…
Frassh!
There was a brilliant flash of light. Something hit the floor heavily.
Knuckles frowned at it.
"Sonic?"
"Urghhh…" he groaned in reply. Knuckles helped the exhausted- looking hedgehog to his feet, supporting him until he could stand for himself.
"What happened?"
"It's not as easy… as Shadow makes it look," Sonic panted. "I'm okay. Just didn't realise that Chaos Control was so tiring…" He hadn't expected it would take so much out of him. Sonic usually felt shaky for a few moments after using the Lightspeed Attack, but nothing like this…
"Run into a wall, did you?" he said eventually, glancing at Knuckles' emerging black eye as he started to recover.
"Very funny." Groaned Knuckles. "I see there's nothing wrong with your sense of humour, even if you do look like roadkill." Then the echidna noticed something else. "Hey, where did your black eye go?"
Sonic's hand went to his face, then to his back. Both wounds had almost disappeared.
"I heal faster when I use Chaos energy. It's happened before," he shrugged.
Then he looked down at the yellow emerald in his other hand, a funny expression on his face.
"What?" Knuckles frowned.
"Nothing. It's just weird…"
"You're weird, you mean." Knuckles shook his head.
Sonic continued to stare at the emerald for a few seconds. It had been a pretty desperate situation back there, and it seemed strangely fitting that he had used Chaos to get out of it. Then he looked up, turning back to the matter at hand.
"Red," he began, "Can you do me a favour?"
The echidna stared. Sonic didn't ask favours often, and when he did, he was serious. This time, he seemed concerned about something.
Knuckles nodded yes.
"I'm worried about Tails and Amy. Can you make sure they're all right? I think they're in one of the control rooms."
"Sure," said Knuckles, surprised.
"Thanks, pal. I owe you one." Sonic ran off, having got his breath back, and disappeared into the distance.
Knuckles stuffed the Master Emerald into his bag, and set off in the other direction.
* * * *
Elsewhere on ARK…
Shadow paced down familiar but long abandoned corridors. He wasn't headed anywhere in particular- he was just walking, because he couldn't think of anything else to do. The flashbacks were coming more quickly now. It was as if seeing Sonic blasted into space, and the reactions of the blue hedgehog's friends, had been a sort of catalyst. Emotions and memories he had buried for so long were coming to the surface. The protective shell he had built up around his mind had cracked.
Every so often, he would look up to see that the lights were brighter, the rust and cobwebs gone, an occasional ghostly scientist passing by on some long-ago business.
He thought he might be going crazy. Maybe he already was crazy…
Not really thinking about it, he turned left, into a room. It was an old lab, complete with examination table and dilapidated equipment-
-And realised that even though he thought he'd been wandering aimlessly, all the time his feet had been taking him here…
Shadow recognised this place; he had spent most of the first few weeks of his life there.
Cautiously, the black hedgehog reached out and touched the table--
* * * *
--Dr. Gerald Kintobor finished taking his readings, and examined the screen of the portable computer.
"Mmmm." He said thoughtfully.
Shadow slipped of the table and got to his feet, regarding the scientist curiously.
"What is it?" he asked.
A casual observer would have assumed that the striking black and red hedgehog was about eighteen years old. If they'd found out that he had emerged fully grown from a tank two weeks before, they would have been surprised. If they had spoken to him, it would have been more obvious…
During development, Shadow had been implanted with basic knowledge such as language. But as yet, he had no real experience of dealing with people; although that would soon change- he was a fast learner. Perhaps too fast…
But all that was yet to come. At this point in time, Shadow was simply a curious young hedgehog with little real knowledge of the world, life or even his own identity.
"Don't worry, nothing's wrong," Gerald reassured him. "Your energy level is completely stable. I was thinking that you should be able to learn to control that energy."
"Ah, that." Shadow blinked. "You mean…"
--He disappeared.
Dr. Gerald's jaw almost hit the floor.
--Shadow reappeared in one of ARK's many corridors. This was one of the few places he had been before, the corridor between two of the laboratories. He hadn't warped out like that before, and hadn't really expected that would be the result of tapping into the energy that he could feel inside him.
It had been quite easy though. Shadow's control of the Chaos energy was instinctive.
He thought: "Chaos Control."
And now he was finally out of that lab! He expected Dr. Gerald would be surprised, maybe angry. But Shadow wanted to find out if there was anything beyond his tiny world of lab and corridor.
Burning with curiosity, the black hedgehog started to explore.
He ran into the girl in another corridor, some time later. She was in her early teens, with blue eyes and dark blonde hair.
"Hi," She said. Shadow blinked. Not having met many people, he didn't know how to act.
"…Hi…" he replied cautiously. She smiled.
"Don't be nervous. My name's Maria…"
"I'm Shadow," said the hedgehog.
"Grandpa was telling me about you. You're not supposed to be out here, are you?"
"I guess not," he responded, a bit guiltily.
"It's alright. I won't tell."
"Oh." Shadow was confused again. Everyone else he had met seemed either to be slightly scared of him, or wanted to examine him with a magnifying glass. This was… different…
"We can be friends if you like. It can get really lonely here," she continued. Shadow sighed.
"I know." He paused. Then: "I… I haven't had any friends before."
"Hey," Maria said unexpectedly, "Have you ever seen the view from the control room?"
He shook his head.
"You'll like it. C'mon!"
* * * *
"If only I'd known…" Shadow murmured. If only he had realised that a few short months later, she would be dead. Maria had sacrificed herself by helping him escape, and he hadn't been able to save her.
Maybe this was how Sonic's friends felt now.
Shadow shook his head. Why should he care about them? They were nothing to him! Just obstacles in the way to avenging Maria's death: nothing else mattered. Just vengeance.
"That's… what I…promised…" he said haltingly.
Or was it…
The hedgehog frowned; there was something missing. Something Maria had said that he couldn't quite recall.
Maybe these flashbacks were trying to tell him something.
But no matter how hard he tried, Shadow could not make himself remember. The memory was there, just out of reach- but remembering would mean facing the past, and all the turmoil that went with it. He couldn't afford to be weakened by those feelings.
And… it hurt so much…
A loud beeping destroyed the silence of the room!
Shadow jolted and instantly dropped into a crouch, eyes sweeping from side to side, tense for an expected attack.
Caught off-guard again…
It took a few moments before the agitated hedgehog realised the noise was coming from his communicator.
He speared it with a glare, blood-red eyes narrowed to slits of rage.
"What??"
"I see you got out the wrong side of the test tube this morning," Came the surprised voice on the other end.
Shadow growled.
"What do you want, Robotnik?"
"I have the last Chaos Emerald," the Doctor said happily. "The cannon should be ready to fire soon."
"Good," Shadow replied, without much conviction. "I'm on my way." He switched off the wrist device…
Wait…
What was that?
The black hedgehog reached out with his enhanced Chaos senses, and picked up the odd energy signatures. A big one, outside ARK, and two together, heading for the Cannon. One of these was weak and unstable. But it was the other that interested him.
As he warped out, the expression on Shadow's face was not quite a smile.
But it was close…
* * * *
Meanwhile, outside ARK…
Sonic had been searching for an airlock for the past couple of minutes, not wanting to risk trying Chaos Control again- he still felt tired from his last attempt.
Navigating the metallic surface of the space colony was like getting around Metropolis City. Worse, Sonic thought, leaping over another gaping chasm. It was more like the Oil Ocean Zone!
He suddenly came across another one of those pipes. What they were for, Sonic couldn't guess. It was probably something to do with the artificial gravity or the power supply. Whatever. That was science stuff, therefore boring.
The pipes were narrow, brightly coloured and snaked in and out of the maze of towers and platforms that formed the 'face' of ARK. The important thing, though, was you could grind on them.
The hedgehog was a bit suspicious of these pipes, though. The closer to the centre of ARK's disk he got, the more erratic the gravity became- meaning that a couple of times, he'd reached the end of a pipe to find the gravity had reversed somewhere along its twisting path. Once he had found himself standing on the bottom of the platform he had started out on…
But sometimes, it was the only way to travel.
Sonic jumped onto the orange and white pipe and slid down it. This one lead to a lower level, no, wait, a higher level. There had been another disorienting gravity flip…
The blue hedgehog found he was now quite close to the pointed tower that could only be the Eclipse Cannon. It now appeared to be pointing downwards.
But 'close' was a relative word. The colony was a big place after all- the Cannon was still a few miles away, and separated from the rest of ARK by a fathomless drop. The usual towers and platforms were now somewhere above Sonic's head, as he now found himself standing on a narrow catwalk leading to the Cannon. It was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
He looked down…
Space.
"Yikes."
Definitely not a good idea to fall off. Sonic had been mistaken for a meteorite once before, and he had no intention of doing so again.
He eyed the Cannon speculatively, wondering if throwing the fake emerald into that tower would have the desired effect- or whether he should go back to the original plan of finding the other Chaos Emeralds. His Chaos-sense told him they were somewhere directly above, so he guessed it would probably work.
But there wasn't any more time to make plans.
Something was happening…
The bridge began to vibrate under Sonic's feet. He spread out his arms for balance, hearing a low pitched hum begin somewhere within the depths of ARK.
The amount of Chaos energy in the Cannon began to rise.
"Uh oh." Sonic hissed. "Either this is not good, or I need my head checked!"
Sonic's suspicion was quickly proven correct. An alarm suddenly boomed from a speaker somewhere:
"Alert! Alert! Clear the area. Eclipse Cannon firing in 5 minutes, 59 seconds. Target locked: Emerald Hill Zone, Planet Mobius."
Sonic started.
"Six minutes?! What happened to 6 hours?!!"
There were only two sensible reasons for the sudden shortening of the countdown: Robotnik had either managed to get the Chaos Emerald from Tails, or the Master Emerald from Knuckles. The hedgehog didn't know which- the level of Chaos energy in the area was now so high that he couldn't pinpoint any one energy signature, which would have allowed him to locate the Master Emerald or the blue emerald quickly.
Sonic felt a pang of worry towards Tails, Amy and Knuckles. If Robotnik had got one of the two remaining Chaos Emeralds, then something must have happened…
"Robotnik- if you've hurt my friends, you're gonna pay for it," he muttered to himself, trying to ward off the guilty feeling that was starting to surface.
He shouldn't have left them to fend for themselves. He should have been able to avoid Robotnik's trap--
…In the same way that he should have been able to connect that power cable, when Chaos…
No, Sonic thought; there was a time to think about that, and it wasn't now. Right now he had a job to do, his home zone was at risk and hundreds would die unless he stopped the Eclipse Cannon from firing.
Sonic could not afford to fail this time.
The blue hedgehog took the first step of a run towards the Cannon's tower…
"Do you really think it's going to be that easy?" Someone said beside him.
* * * *
Chapter 3
Cannon Countdown: 00:05:30…
Sonic stopped and turned towards the voice.
"Should have known you were gonna turn up, Stripe," Sonic groaned.
Shadow ignored the nickname, and regarded Sonic intently. The blue hedgehog's black eye had healed; he looked tired, but otherwise none the worse for his brief trip into space.
"So, how did you escape?" Sonic was a little surprised at the dark hedgehog's unusual curiosity, but knew he didn't have time for this. He supplied a quick reply with a crooked grin.
"What can I say? I die hard." However, he then thought of the contempt Shadow had shown towards him on their every encounter- and decided it was time he was brought down a peg.
"Actually… let's just say that you're not the only one who can use Chaos Control."
However, the reaction of the other hedgehog was not what Sonic had expected or wanted. He was neither angry nor shocked that his abilities could be equalled by a mere 'impostor'.
In fact, Shadow thought it made perfect sense. The use of Chaos energy would explain how Sonic's injuries had healed so quickly- too quickly, in fact. The blue hedgehog must have used up a massive amount of energy to produce a side effect like that; it had no doubt put an incredible strain on his body and left him exhausted- if it wasn't for the fake emerald's energy, he probably wouldn't be standing right now. It was a mistake that Shadow rarely ever made. He had learned to judge exactly how much power was required…
There, he realised, lay Sonic's weakness. He had power, a lot of it, but little real control.
Still, to be able to manipulate that much energy at all… and without the effect on the mind that often came from doing so. That was amazing in itself. Shadow was chaotic by design- while as far as he knew, Sonic was not.
"So you aren't just an ordinary hedgehog. Then tell me: what are you?"
Sonic answered his question confidently and without hesitation.
"I'm an adventurer and a freedom fighter. I'm Sonic the hedgehog!"
Shadow looked down for a second.
"That's enough for you, isn't it…" he said quietly. Then the ruby eyes lifted to meet Sonic's green ones.
"You do realise that I can't let you live," Shadow continued. "I have a purpose here. I won't let you stop me from fulfilling it."
"That makes two of us," Sonic nodded, gesturing towards the planet below. "It's my duty to save the people down there, and help my friends."
"It's also your greatest mistake," Shadow replied, and leaped into attack…
* * * *
A battle between two supersonic hedgehogs is like no other, especially when it takes place on a narrow catwalk suspended over a yawning abyss. Bouts of dodging and running were interspersed with short, vicious clashes- Sonic and Shadow were currently involved in the latter.
Sonic had quickly found himself in trouble. He knew that Shadow could not corner quite as well as he could- but in terms of speed and endurance, the black hedgehog had the upper hand. The fact that they were on a straight cost Sonic any advantage he might have had; plus, he was carrying the fake emerald, which left him the use of only his right hand.
At that point Shadow was on his left hand side, so Sonic attempted to elbow him in the ribs. However, by the time the elbow got there, the other hedgehog was long gone.
Sonic blinked to clear the last traces of the green flash from his vision, and looked around frantically.
He couldn't see Shadow anywhere. Couldn't pick up his energy trace either, not with all the background radiation…
"Hey, Darth Maul! Where'd ya go?"
Something slammed into his back, knocking the blue hedgehog to the ground. Shadow shot over his head and was gone.
Sonic muttered something about getting run over, then got up and gave chase- but Shadow had turned and was coming back his way.
"So you wanna play chicken, huh?" Sonic said under his breath, accelerating to meet his opponent.
Neither hedgehog was willing to get out of the other's way. They collided in the middle of the catwalk, both instinctively curling into a ball at the last second and bouncing back into the air.
Sonic landed on his feet near the edge, nearly toppling over- but just succeeding in keeping his balance.
They paused for a moment, looking for an opening to attack.
"Give up, blue hedgehog." Shadow said ominously.
"Never!"
"Cannon firing in 2 minutes, 30 seconds…" warned the voice over the loudspeaker.
Eyes widening, Sonic turned to face the Cannon tower behind him. The conical structure was starting to open…
"No time!" he hissed, rocketing towards the Cannon. Shadow would have to wait…
…which was something the black hedgehog certainly did not want to do. Within moments, he was gliding effortlessly along at Sonic's right hand side.
"Why are you trying to save those people?" Shadow sneered.
"Why are you trying to destroy them?" Countered Sonic, eyes still fixed on the Eclipse Cannon's expanding tower.
Shadow snarled.
"Justice!"
He crouched slightly and violently jerked his head to the side, so that the sharp tip of one spike raked across Sonic's ribs. The blue hedgehog yelled in pain and fell back a little.
Seeing his chance, Shadow completed the movement by slamming his whole weight into his dazed opponent. The shove was enough to knock him over the edge…
Shadow stopped and regarded the empty catwalk thoughtfully. He almost regretted having to finish Sonic off like that, as he was starting to feel something like respect for this strangely determined hedgehog.
He peered over the edge.
* * * *
Sonic was hanging off the catwalk by his right hand, his left still gripping the yellow emerald.
"I hate cliffhangers," He thought, as he toyed briefly with the idea of using Chaos Control to get out of this one. No way that would work- he could try warping out and reappearing back on the catwalk or by the Cannon, but would he be able to materialise precisely on target? Probably not, and being out by even a metre might leave him drifting through space.
Which was exactly what was going to happen, he reminded himself, if he stayed put. His grip on the catwalk slipped a little as ARK's messed-up gravity tried to push him away.
Sonic tried to pull himself up, and gasped as pain exploded in his side; giving up the attempt, he glanced down at the bloodstain spreading through his fur. Cursing, he looked up to see Shadow examining him curiously. He was obviously considering tipping Sonic over the edge.
"Don't you ever give up?" the black hedgehog inquired.
"No…not when people are counting on me. I have friends down there!" his fingers slipped a bit more.
"Why waste your time with them?" Shadow frowned. "They don't deserve it. Friends indeed. All those people want to do is destroy…"
Sonic's eyes filled with fury.
"You're no different! But you don't even understand, do you?" he spat. "I let someone down once, I won't do it again," Sonic added, voice becoming a whisper.
His hand slipped completely off the edge.
Shadow's eyes narrowed. He hissed in annoyance, then his own hand flashed out and grabbed Sonic's wrist.
His other hand gripping the edge of the platform for balance, he pulled the blue hedgehog up.
Sonic got to his feet. His hand pressed to his side to stop the blood loss; luckily, the wound wasn't too bad.
"Why…?" he asked confusedly.
Shadow had moved off some way down the platform. He heard Sonic's quiet question and looked back.
"I thought like you once," he said, a ghost of sadness in his voice. "I know better now."
Sonic nodded. He finally saw what Amy and Shade had seen; that bleak hopelessness was something he knew only too well.
"Did you lose someone, Shadow?" he said gently.
Shadow did not reply, just walked away from Sonic and the Eclipse Cannon. Eventually he spoke.
"Go help your…friends. I won't stop you."
A quick flash of green light signalled the end of this encounter. For a second, Sonic stared at the spot where the other hedgehog had been, wearing a puzzled frown- then the loudspeaker announced that the cannon would fire in thirty seconds.
Sonic shook his head, then turned and ran painfully towards the Cannon.
The catwalk came to an abrupt end ten or so metres before the Cannon. The tower was fully open now, and Sonic could see no safe way to reach it. There was no time for 'safe'. With a mental shrug, he launched himself off the end, into empty space.
Sonic flew between two of the petal-like sections of the tower, his momentum carrying him directly below the Cannon itself. There was a flip, and the Cannon was suddenly below his feet- the gravity had reversed again.
Sonic looked down. The huge structure resembled a deadly, metallic flower, with a core of blue-white energy at its heart. He had the feeling of looking down the barrel of a gun as the gravity began to pull him in.
"Cannon firing in ten seconds…"
Gripping the fake emerald in both hands, he raised it high above his head.
"Eight seconds…"
Sonic hurled the emerald as far as he could into the Cannon's core…
"Six seconds…"
The Chaos Emerald dwindled to a point of yellow light, then was lost in the suddenly increasing brilliance from the Eclipse Cannon.
"Four…"
The light was blinding now, Sonic had to shield his eyes as he plunged deeper into the engine of destruction.
"Two…
One…"
To be continued…
It's not over yet, as a message from the past reveals ARK's deepest and deadliest secret…
Sonic Adventure 2 Adaptation, part 10: 'Gerald's Legacy'
"Darkness and Light"
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.
* * * *
Chapter 1
Location: Space Colony ARK, Control Room 1b
Cannon Countdown: 6 hours
"The real Chaos Emerald, if you please?" Robotnik grinned.
Amy barely even heard him. She was on her knees on the cold metal floor, staring blankly into space. Through the window, the last traces of the distant explosion had faded away, but still it played over and over in her mind.
Sonic was gone…
Really gone.
The pink hedgehog did not go into hysterics, as she would have expected. The emotion had hit her and gone. Everything seemed distant now, and strangely calm.
No coming back this time…
She remembered when they had first met. Back then, Amy had had a silly crush on the teenaged Sonic, with his unique looks, courage and rebellious attitude. Over time, the crush had turned into friendship and respect; recently, it may have become something more than that. She had always wondered if he felt the same way- Sonic's last words to her had suggested as much…
But now she would never know…
Across the room, Robotnik's walker advanced on an equally distraught Tails. Amy gazed at them dully.
"My readings tell me," the mad scientist began, "That you have the emerald in that degenerate tin can of yours. Give it to me."
The fox raised his head. The last thing he wanted to do now was fight, he felt like curling into a ball and staying put.
But he had promised…
Tails made his walker get to its feet. He was scared- after all, what could he do without Sonic? -But he knew it was all up to him now.
"No way, Robotnik." He said, voice wavering a little as he tried to put as much conviction into the words as possible. "Sonic asked me to do something for him. I won't let him down!" Tails reminded himself of what Robotnik had done to the hedgehog. Sonic, who had saved Tails' life on the first day they met, and who had been his best friend ever since. Now, looking at Robotnik the murderer, the young fox found that he actually wanted to fight.
"That means that if you want the Chaos Emerald, you'll have to take it from me."
Robotnik snarled. The two adversaries circled, the weapons of each machine trained on the other. The blue and yellow Cyclone and the grey Egg Walker seemed equally matched, but the real test was yet to come…
Tails fired the first shot. Robotnik's machine ducked clumsily, and the energy blast pinged off the reinforced window. Cursing as the Egg Walker swung out of the way, Tails took aim once more.
This time, Robotnik's device rocked back like a wounded dinosaur as the shot smacked home, impacting below the windscreen and shattering the single headlight.
Strangely, Robotnik laughed as he regained his balance.
"Face it, that relic can't compete with my technology."
"Aaah!" Tails shielded his face as a volley of rapid-fire shots thudded into the Cyclone's side. Checking the dials in the cockpit, the two-tailed pilot was relieved to find that the tough craft hadn't sustained major damage.
Tails retaliated with a homing beam, which hit the leg of the Egg Walker, causing it to list to one side. The grey machine took a lurching step forwards and fired another stream of missiles, while Tails pushed his own craft into a lumbering run. The missiles plummeted harmlessly into the floor.
The Cyclone's cockpit swivelled towards Robotnik as Tails circled the perimeter of the room.
The Egg Walker's legs were it's weak spot, Tails thought. It was already damaged- if he could take its legs out from under it, Robotnik would be finished.
A laser beam narrowly missed Tails' head. The fox made a sharp turn, cutting across the middle of the room. Coming in for the kill.
He didn't think about the legs of his own walker…
Suddenly, the cockpit shuddered. Mistakenly thinking he had taken a hit, Tails checked his readouts. Nothing wrong.
The Cyclone attempted to take a step forward, and there was a hideous screech of tearing metal.
Servos screamed in protest as the machine tipped over and collapsed, the front crumpling against the floor. Tails, finding his nose inches from the ground, hastily scrambled out of the cockpit to inspect the damage.
"Oh, no…" he groaned, seeing the wreckage of the Cyclone's left leg. The metallic foot must have got caught in the join in the floor that marked where the escape pods were launched. The walker had torn itself apart trying to get free, leaving a mass of twisted metal and sparking wires.
Tails' battle had been ended by the same thing that had caused Sonic's downfall.
And it got worse…
Tails looked up, only to see that the box containing the blue Chaos Emerald had been thrown clear. It skidded across the room, coming to a halt at the feet of the Egg Walker.
Tails groaned. Robotnik chuckled, and making the machine bend down, scooped up the precious box.
"Now, what have we here?" he gloated, checking the contents. His round face split into an ugly grin. "Thank you for providing me with this." The walker began to limp towards the door. Before leaving, Robotnik paused and looked back. Tails, whose face was a picture of misery, and Amy, still in shock, stared up at him.
"Now I have the six Chaos Emeralds, I can show those ungrateful wretches on Mobius what the Eclipse Cannon is really capable of." As he thought for a moment, the human waved a hand at the large, round window, through which Planet Mobius was visible. "I think I'll leave you two in here. That way, you can watch me wipe the Emerald Hill Zone off the face of the planet." With that, Robotnik chuckled and left the room, the door sliding shut and locking behind him. The two animals heard the footsteps of the Egg Walker fade into the distance as Robotnik made his way to the cannon control room.
"What now?" Amy said finally, coming out of her trance a little. Tails gave her a hopeless look. His two tails dragged on the floor as he walked over to the Cyclone wreckage, and he sat sullenly on it.
"Now nothing." He moaned, staring at the floor. "I promised Sonic I'd stop that madman, and I failed him."
Tails lifted his head to stare out of the window, and his eyes were bright with tears.
"Looks like Robotnik has won after all."
* * * *
A few minutes earlier…
The small escape pod blasted out of the underside of ARK. It began to spin, end over end, but it's artificial gravity kept its contents firmly attached to the floor. Machinery built into the capsule could provide enough breathable air to reach the planet below.
Neither device was required to work for long this time, though.
Inside the small capsule, Sonic had a dizzying, alternating view of Mobius and ARK. The capsule was moving away from the space colony at alarming speed, and when it was far enough away, it was going to explode…
Sonic thought morbidly that this was the last time he would see Planet Mobius.
"No, I mustn't think like that," he told himself firmly. There had to be a way out of this, somehow. He'd been in worse situations.
Hadn't he?!
This was one time when Sonic was prepared to admit that he was afraid. There was nothing but cold, empty space out there, but he still felt like trying to break out of that capsule- space or no space. Not that it would do him any good; the pod would blow up the moment he touched the force field.
"Arghhh," he thought.
Sonic forced himself to calm down and think rationally. He found himself feeling fiercely jealous of Shadow, he wouldn't have any problem escaping…
Sonic's gaze was drawn to the fake Chaos Emerald that was in the capsule with him.
"Shadow? I wonder…"
Maybe he could do it. After all, Sonic's abilities were very similar to Shadow's, so why shouldn't it work? Especially with an energy boost from the fake emerald, which contained at least some Chaos energy?
An alarm began to sound in the escape pod. No more time to think. Sonic grabbed the yellow emerald in both hands, allowing its' energy to flow through him. At the same time, he tapped into his own reserves of power as if he was going to use the Lightspeed Attack.
The hedgehog desperately concentrated on being somewhere else, it didn't matter where- as long as wasn't in that capsule!
"Chaos control!" he yelled.
Too late… the alarm was suddenly louder, much louder, then it cut off altogether. Sonic saw the capsule's surrounding force field begin to glow a brilliant, deadly white--
Then he shuddered as a wave of Chaos energy passed through him, there was a strange wrenching sensation, and he was out of there.
* * * *
At first, Sonic wondered where he was. Then he realised that he wasn't really anywhere at all. It was an emerald-coloured nothingness, something like the limbo between timelines that he had travelled through when using the Time Stone- except that there he had had a body. Here, in this realm of Chaos, he existed as a disembodied consciousness, a being of pure energy.
And that energy was quickly fading…
Something was wrong; he should have re-materialised somewhere by now. Sonic couldn't stay in this strange plane of reality for long. Soon, he realised, he would be absorbed into the nothingness.
His escape route was turning into yet another trap!
Concentrating, Sonic found that he could sense things in the real world. He figured that must be how Chaos Control worked. You had to choose somewhere, then travel to it using this green limbo.
He could sense Planet Mobius below, but knew he didn't have enough energy to reach it. ARK was nearer, the Chaos Emeralds shining out like brilliant lights. Again, Sonic wasn't sure if he could make it. Besides, he didn't want to risk re-appearing inside the Eclipse Cannon itself, which could be deadly.
Panicking a little, Sonic frantically sought somewhere to go.
Suddenly, something changed- a nearby Chaos signal abruptly strengthened into a glowing beacon…
Sonic didn't know what it was, but it was close. He struck out for this light in the dark…
* * * *
Chapter 2
Location: Outside surface of ARK
Time: A few seconds earlier
Knuckles examined the small, green shard in his hand. Sharp and roughly triangular, it didn't look like much- but the echidna knew how vitally important it was.
This was the final piece of the jigsaw…
He stood up and regarded the nearly complete Master Emerald, which was covered in a spiderweb of cracks. Now was the moment of truth, now he would discover if he could really restore the seventh Chaos Emerald.
Before he could put the fragment into it's rightful place, however, something caught his eye.
In the distance, a silvery speck arced past, then exploded in a small flare of light.
He shrugged. It was probably just debris, nothing important.
With that, the scarlet echidna slipped the emerald shard into the notch in the side of the Master Emerald, stood back, and waited.
For a moment or so, nothing happened. Knuckles was crestfallen- perhaps there were more pieces to find, or maybe he was just attempting the impossible.
Then…
The emerald began to glow a brilliant, frightening green. The radiance became steadily brighter, until Knuckles had to shade his indigo eyes from the glare. Quickly, however, it faded back to the usual eerie glow of a Chaos Emerald.
The monotreme examined the large, green gem. It was a little smaller than usual, because its energy was drained, but apart from that it was perfect. There were no chips, and no cracks marred the surface. The Master Emerald was healed and whole once more.
Normally serious, Knuckles allowed himself a whoop of triumph and punched the air.
"Yess!!"
But then he frowned. Something was happening--
"What the…"
There was a fitful green glow in the air, about two metres off the floor. It flickered, dimming almost to nothing, then became brighter until…
Frassh!
There was a brilliant flash of light. Something hit the floor heavily.
Knuckles frowned at it.
"Sonic?"
"Urghhh…" he groaned in reply. Knuckles helped the exhausted- looking hedgehog to his feet, supporting him until he could stand for himself.
"What happened?"
"It's not as easy… as Shadow makes it look," Sonic panted. "I'm okay. Just didn't realise that Chaos Control was so tiring…" He hadn't expected it would take so much out of him. Sonic usually felt shaky for a few moments after using the Lightspeed Attack, but nothing like this…
"Run into a wall, did you?" he said eventually, glancing at Knuckles' emerging black eye as he started to recover.
"Very funny." Groaned Knuckles. "I see there's nothing wrong with your sense of humour, even if you do look like roadkill." Then the echidna noticed something else. "Hey, where did your black eye go?"
Sonic's hand went to his face, then to his back. Both wounds had almost disappeared.
"I heal faster when I use Chaos energy. It's happened before," he shrugged.
Then he looked down at the yellow emerald in his other hand, a funny expression on his face.
"What?" Knuckles frowned.
"Nothing. It's just weird…"
"You're weird, you mean." Knuckles shook his head.
Sonic continued to stare at the emerald for a few seconds. It had been a pretty desperate situation back there, and it seemed strangely fitting that he had used Chaos to get out of it. Then he looked up, turning back to the matter at hand.
"Red," he began, "Can you do me a favour?"
The echidna stared. Sonic didn't ask favours often, and when he did, he was serious. This time, he seemed concerned about something.
Knuckles nodded yes.
"I'm worried about Tails and Amy. Can you make sure they're all right? I think they're in one of the control rooms."
"Sure," said Knuckles, surprised.
"Thanks, pal. I owe you one." Sonic ran off, having got his breath back, and disappeared into the distance.
Knuckles stuffed the Master Emerald into his bag, and set off in the other direction.
* * * *
Elsewhere on ARK…
Shadow paced down familiar but long abandoned corridors. He wasn't headed anywhere in particular- he was just walking, because he couldn't think of anything else to do. The flashbacks were coming more quickly now. It was as if seeing Sonic blasted into space, and the reactions of the blue hedgehog's friends, had been a sort of catalyst. Emotions and memories he had buried for so long were coming to the surface. The protective shell he had built up around his mind had cracked.
Every so often, he would look up to see that the lights were brighter, the rust and cobwebs gone, an occasional ghostly scientist passing by on some long-ago business.
He thought he might be going crazy. Maybe he already was crazy…
Not really thinking about it, he turned left, into a room. It was an old lab, complete with examination table and dilapidated equipment-
-And realised that even though he thought he'd been wandering aimlessly, all the time his feet had been taking him here…
Shadow recognised this place; he had spent most of the first few weeks of his life there.
Cautiously, the black hedgehog reached out and touched the table--
* * * *
--Dr. Gerald Kintobor finished taking his readings, and examined the screen of the portable computer.
"Mmmm." He said thoughtfully.
Shadow slipped of the table and got to his feet, regarding the scientist curiously.
"What is it?" he asked.
A casual observer would have assumed that the striking black and red hedgehog was about eighteen years old. If they'd found out that he had emerged fully grown from a tank two weeks before, they would have been surprised. If they had spoken to him, it would have been more obvious…
During development, Shadow had been implanted with basic knowledge such as language. But as yet, he had no real experience of dealing with people; although that would soon change- he was a fast learner. Perhaps too fast…
But all that was yet to come. At this point in time, Shadow was simply a curious young hedgehog with little real knowledge of the world, life or even his own identity.
"Don't worry, nothing's wrong," Gerald reassured him. "Your energy level is completely stable. I was thinking that you should be able to learn to control that energy."
"Ah, that." Shadow blinked. "You mean…"
--He disappeared.
Dr. Gerald's jaw almost hit the floor.
--Shadow reappeared in one of ARK's many corridors. This was one of the few places he had been before, the corridor between two of the laboratories. He hadn't warped out like that before, and hadn't really expected that would be the result of tapping into the energy that he could feel inside him.
It had been quite easy though. Shadow's control of the Chaos energy was instinctive.
He thought: "Chaos Control."
And now he was finally out of that lab! He expected Dr. Gerald would be surprised, maybe angry. But Shadow wanted to find out if there was anything beyond his tiny world of lab and corridor.
Burning with curiosity, the black hedgehog started to explore.
He ran into the girl in another corridor, some time later. She was in her early teens, with blue eyes and dark blonde hair.
"Hi," She said. Shadow blinked. Not having met many people, he didn't know how to act.
"…Hi…" he replied cautiously. She smiled.
"Don't be nervous. My name's Maria…"
"I'm Shadow," said the hedgehog.
"Grandpa was telling me about you. You're not supposed to be out here, are you?"
"I guess not," he responded, a bit guiltily.
"It's alright. I won't tell."
"Oh." Shadow was confused again. Everyone else he had met seemed either to be slightly scared of him, or wanted to examine him with a magnifying glass. This was… different…
"We can be friends if you like. It can get really lonely here," she continued. Shadow sighed.
"I know." He paused. Then: "I… I haven't had any friends before."
"Hey," Maria said unexpectedly, "Have you ever seen the view from the control room?"
He shook his head.
"You'll like it. C'mon!"
* * * *
"If only I'd known…" Shadow murmured. If only he had realised that a few short months later, she would be dead. Maria had sacrificed herself by helping him escape, and he hadn't been able to save her.
Maybe this was how Sonic's friends felt now.
Shadow shook his head. Why should he care about them? They were nothing to him! Just obstacles in the way to avenging Maria's death: nothing else mattered. Just vengeance.
"That's… what I…promised…" he said haltingly.
Or was it…
The hedgehog frowned; there was something missing. Something Maria had said that he couldn't quite recall.
Maybe these flashbacks were trying to tell him something.
But no matter how hard he tried, Shadow could not make himself remember. The memory was there, just out of reach- but remembering would mean facing the past, and all the turmoil that went with it. He couldn't afford to be weakened by those feelings.
And… it hurt so much…
A loud beeping destroyed the silence of the room!
Shadow jolted and instantly dropped into a crouch, eyes sweeping from side to side, tense for an expected attack.
Caught off-guard again…
It took a few moments before the agitated hedgehog realised the noise was coming from his communicator.
He speared it with a glare, blood-red eyes narrowed to slits of rage.
"What??"
"I see you got out the wrong side of the test tube this morning," Came the surprised voice on the other end.
Shadow growled.
"What do you want, Robotnik?"
"I have the last Chaos Emerald," the Doctor said happily. "The cannon should be ready to fire soon."
"Good," Shadow replied, without much conviction. "I'm on my way." He switched off the wrist device…
Wait…
What was that?
The black hedgehog reached out with his enhanced Chaos senses, and picked up the odd energy signatures. A big one, outside ARK, and two together, heading for the Cannon. One of these was weak and unstable. But it was the other that interested him.
As he warped out, the expression on Shadow's face was not quite a smile.
But it was close…
* * * *
Meanwhile, outside ARK…
Sonic had been searching for an airlock for the past couple of minutes, not wanting to risk trying Chaos Control again- he still felt tired from his last attempt.
Navigating the metallic surface of the space colony was like getting around Metropolis City. Worse, Sonic thought, leaping over another gaping chasm. It was more like the Oil Ocean Zone!
He suddenly came across another one of those pipes. What they were for, Sonic couldn't guess. It was probably something to do with the artificial gravity or the power supply. Whatever. That was science stuff, therefore boring.
The pipes were narrow, brightly coloured and snaked in and out of the maze of towers and platforms that formed the 'face' of ARK. The important thing, though, was you could grind on them.
The hedgehog was a bit suspicious of these pipes, though. The closer to the centre of ARK's disk he got, the more erratic the gravity became- meaning that a couple of times, he'd reached the end of a pipe to find the gravity had reversed somewhere along its twisting path. Once he had found himself standing on the bottom of the platform he had started out on…
But sometimes, it was the only way to travel.
Sonic jumped onto the orange and white pipe and slid down it. This one lead to a lower level, no, wait, a higher level. There had been another disorienting gravity flip…
The blue hedgehog found he was now quite close to the pointed tower that could only be the Eclipse Cannon. It now appeared to be pointing downwards.
But 'close' was a relative word. The colony was a big place after all- the Cannon was still a few miles away, and separated from the rest of ARK by a fathomless drop. The usual towers and platforms were now somewhere above Sonic's head, as he now found himself standing on a narrow catwalk leading to the Cannon. It was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
He looked down…
Space.
"Yikes."
Definitely not a good idea to fall off. Sonic had been mistaken for a meteorite once before, and he had no intention of doing so again.
He eyed the Cannon speculatively, wondering if throwing the fake emerald into that tower would have the desired effect- or whether he should go back to the original plan of finding the other Chaos Emeralds. His Chaos-sense told him they were somewhere directly above, so he guessed it would probably work.
But there wasn't any more time to make plans.
Something was happening…
The bridge began to vibrate under Sonic's feet. He spread out his arms for balance, hearing a low pitched hum begin somewhere within the depths of ARK.
The amount of Chaos energy in the Cannon began to rise.
"Uh oh." Sonic hissed. "Either this is not good, or I need my head checked!"
Sonic's suspicion was quickly proven correct. An alarm suddenly boomed from a speaker somewhere:
"Alert! Alert! Clear the area. Eclipse Cannon firing in 5 minutes, 59 seconds. Target locked: Emerald Hill Zone, Planet Mobius."
Sonic started.
"Six minutes?! What happened to 6 hours?!!"
There were only two sensible reasons for the sudden shortening of the countdown: Robotnik had either managed to get the Chaos Emerald from Tails, or the Master Emerald from Knuckles. The hedgehog didn't know which- the level of Chaos energy in the area was now so high that he couldn't pinpoint any one energy signature, which would have allowed him to locate the Master Emerald or the blue emerald quickly.
Sonic felt a pang of worry towards Tails, Amy and Knuckles. If Robotnik had got one of the two remaining Chaos Emeralds, then something must have happened…
"Robotnik- if you've hurt my friends, you're gonna pay for it," he muttered to himself, trying to ward off the guilty feeling that was starting to surface.
He shouldn't have left them to fend for themselves. He should have been able to avoid Robotnik's trap--
…In the same way that he should have been able to connect that power cable, when Chaos…
No, Sonic thought; there was a time to think about that, and it wasn't now. Right now he had a job to do, his home zone was at risk and hundreds would die unless he stopped the Eclipse Cannon from firing.
Sonic could not afford to fail this time.
The blue hedgehog took the first step of a run towards the Cannon's tower…
"Do you really think it's going to be that easy?" Someone said beside him.
* * * *
Chapter 3
Cannon Countdown: 00:05:30…
Sonic stopped and turned towards the voice.
"Should have known you were gonna turn up, Stripe," Sonic groaned.
Shadow ignored the nickname, and regarded Sonic intently. The blue hedgehog's black eye had healed; he looked tired, but otherwise none the worse for his brief trip into space.
"So, how did you escape?" Sonic was a little surprised at the dark hedgehog's unusual curiosity, but knew he didn't have time for this. He supplied a quick reply with a crooked grin.
"What can I say? I die hard." However, he then thought of the contempt Shadow had shown towards him on their every encounter- and decided it was time he was brought down a peg.
"Actually… let's just say that you're not the only one who can use Chaos Control."
However, the reaction of the other hedgehog was not what Sonic had expected or wanted. He was neither angry nor shocked that his abilities could be equalled by a mere 'impostor'.
In fact, Shadow thought it made perfect sense. The use of Chaos energy would explain how Sonic's injuries had healed so quickly- too quickly, in fact. The blue hedgehog must have used up a massive amount of energy to produce a side effect like that; it had no doubt put an incredible strain on his body and left him exhausted- if it wasn't for the fake emerald's energy, he probably wouldn't be standing right now. It was a mistake that Shadow rarely ever made. He had learned to judge exactly how much power was required…
There, he realised, lay Sonic's weakness. He had power, a lot of it, but little real control.
Still, to be able to manipulate that much energy at all… and without the effect on the mind that often came from doing so. That was amazing in itself. Shadow was chaotic by design- while as far as he knew, Sonic was not.
"So you aren't just an ordinary hedgehog. Then tell me: what are you?"
Sonic answered his question confidently and without hesitation.
"I'm an adventurer and a freedom fighter. I'm Sonic the hedgehog!"
Shadow looked down for a second.
"That's enough for you, isn't it…" he said quietly. Then the ruby eyes lifted to meet Sonic's green ones.
"You do realise that I can't let you live," Shadow continued. "I have a purpose here. I won't let you stop me from fulfilling it."
"That makes two of us," Sonic nodded, gesturing towards the planet below. "It's my duty to save the people down there, and help my friends."
"It's also your greatest mistake," Shadow replied, and leaped into attack…
* * * *
A battle between two supersonic hedgehogs is like no other, especially when it takes place on a narrow catwalk suspended over a yawning abyss. Bouts of dodging and running were interspersed with short, vicious clashes- Sonic and Shadow were currently involved in the latter.
Sonic had quickly found himself in trouble. He knew that Shadow could not corner quite as well as he could- but in terms of speed and endurance, the black hedgehog had the upper hand. The fact that they were on a straight cost Sonic any advantage he might have had; plus, he was carrying the fake emerald, which left him the use of only his right hand.
At that point Shadow was on his left hand side, so Sonic attempted to elbow him in the ribs. However, by the time the elbow got there, the other hedgehog was long gone.
Sonic blinked to clear the last traces of the green flash from his vision, and looked around frantically.
He couldn't see Shadow anywhere. Couldn't pick up his energy trace either, not with all the background radiation…
"Hey, Darth Maul! Where'd ya go?"
Something slammed into his back, knocking the blue hedgehog to the ground. Shadow shot over his head and was gone.
Sonic muttered something about getting run over, then got up and gave chase- but Shadow had turned and was coming back his way.
"So you wanna play chicken, huh?" Sonic said under his breath, accelerating to meet his opponent.
Neither hedgehog was willing to get out of the other's way. They collided in the middle of the catwalk, both instinctively curling into a ball at the last second and bouncing back into the air.
Sonic landed on his feet near the edge, nearly toppling over- but just succeeding in keeping his balance.
They paused for a moment, looking for an opening to attack.
"Give up, blue hedgehog." Shadow said ominously.
"Never!"
"Cannon firing in 2 minutes, 30 seconds…" warned the voice over the loudspeaker.
Eyes widening, Sonic turned to face the Cannon tower behind him. The conical structure was starting to open…
"No time!" he hissed, rocketing towards the Cannon. Shadow would have to wait…
…which was something the black hedgehog certainly did not want to do. Within moments, he was gliding effortlessly along at Sonic's right hand side.
"Why are you trying to save those people?" Shadow sneered.
"Why are you trying to destroy them?" Countered Sonic, eyes still fixed on the Eclipse Cannon's expanding tower.
Shadow snarled.
"Justice!"
He crouched slightly and violently jerked his head to the side, so that the sharp tip of one spike raked across Sonic's ribs. The blue hedgehog yelled in pain and fell back a little.
Seeing his chance, Shadow completed the movement by slamming his whole weight into his dazed opponent. The shove was enough to knock him over the edge…
Shadow stopped and regarded the empty catwalk thoughtfully. He almost regretted having to finish Sonic off like that, as he was starting to feel something like respect for this strangely determined hedgehog.
He peered over the edge.
* * * *
Sonic was hanging off the catwalk by his right hand, his left still gripping the yellow emerald.
"I hate cliffhangers," He thought, as he toyed briefly with the idea of using Chaos Control to get out of this one. No way that would work- he could try warping out and reappearing back on the catwalk or by the Cannon, but would he be able to materialise precisely on target? Probably not, and being out by even a metre might leave him drifting through space.
Which was exactly what was going to happen, he reminded himself, if he stayed put. His grip on the catwalk slipped a little as ARK's messed-up gravity tried to push him away.
Sonic tried to pull himself up, and gasped as pain exploded in his side; giving up the attempt, he glanced down at the bloodstain spreading through his fur. Cursing, he looked up to see Shadow examining him curiously. He was obviously considering tipping Sonic over the edge.
"Don't you ever give up?" the black hedgehog inquired.
"No…not when people are counting on me. I have friends down there!" his fingers slipped a bit more.
"Why waste your time with them?" Shadow frowned. "They don't deserve it. Friends indeed. All those people want to do is destroy…"
Sonic's eyes filled with fury.
"You're no different! But you don't even understand, do you?" he spat. "I let someone down once, I won't do it again," Sonic added, voice becoming a whisper.
His hand slipped completely off the edge.
Shadow's eyes narrowed. He hissed in annoyance, then his own hand flashed out and grabbed Sonic's wrist.
His other hand gripping the edge of the platform for balance, he pulled the blue hedgehog up.
Sonic got to his feet. His hand pressed to his side to stop the blood loss; luckily, the wound wasn't too bad.
"Why…?" he asked confusedly.
Shadow had moved off some way down the platform. He heard Sonic's quiet question and looked back.
"I thought like you once," he said, a ghost of sadness in his voice. "I know better now."
Sonic nodded. He finally saw what Amy and Shade had seen; that bleak hopelessness was something he knew only too well.
"Did you lose someone, Shadow?" he said gently.
Shadow did not reply, just walked away from Sonic and the Eclipse Cannon. Eventually he spoke.
"Go help your…friends. I won't stop you."
A quick flash of green light signalled the end of this encounter. For a second, Sonic stared at the spot where the other hedgehog had been, wearing a puzzled frown- then the loudspeaker announced that the cannon would fire in thirty seconds.
Sonic shook his head, then turned and ran painfully towards the Cannon.
The catwalk came to an abrupt end ten or so metres before the Cannon. The tower was fully open now, and Sonic could see no safe way to reach it. There was no time for 'safe'. With a mental shrug, he launched himself off the end, into empty space.
Sonic flew between two of the petal-like sections of the tower, his momentum carrying him directly below the Cannon itself. There was a flip, and the Cannon was suddenly below his feet- the gravity had reversed again.
Sonic looked down. The huge structure resembled a deadly, metallic flower, with a core of blue-white energy at its heart. He had the feeling of looking down the barrel of a gun as the gravity began to pull him in.
"Cannon firing in ten seconds…"
Gripping the fake emerald in both hands, he raised it high above his head.
"Eight seconds…"
Sonic hurled the emerald as far as he could into the Cannon's core…
"Six seconds…"
The Chaos Emerald dwindled to a point of yellow light, then was lost in the suddenly increasing brilliance from the Eclipse Cannon.
"Four…"
The light was blinding now, Sonic had to shield his eyes as he plunged deeper into the engine of destruction.
"Two…
One…"
To be continued…
It's not over yet, as a message from the past reveals ARK's deepest and deadliest secret…
Sonic Adventure 2 Adaptation, part 10: 'Gerald's Legacy'