Chapter 17 - Dark Discovery
The next hour was spent trying to figure out the purpose of the lab. Aura and Lisa were busy helping tend to the Chao...Ryan, Lazer, and Red Sonic were busy keeping watch for any soldiers...Tails and Julie-Su were continuing to hack into the computer...Shadow was giving himself a once over to check for any physical problems, with Sonic, Amy, and Rouge standing nearby to lend aid if necessary...and Anthony was busy talking to Knuckles.
"So, I'm stuck with the Chaos Emeralds?" Anthony said.
"Looks like it," Knuckles said. "My guess is the Servers chose you...to be their Guardian."
"Oh great..." Anthony said. "Sorry man."
"Don't be, I'm still Guardian of the Island and of the Master Emerald," Knuckles said, holding up the Emerald in question. "Actually, you should be honored."
"Honored? I'm frightened out of my wits!" Anthony said. "I don't need this kind of power in my possession, and I STILL haven't figured out what kind of Descendancy psionic abilities are in the white and sky blue Emeralds!"
As they continued to talk, Shadow finished looking himself over and said, "Looks like I'm fine. I'm just glad they didn't get to me for whatever they were planning."
"I'm with that..." Sonic said.
Rouge immediately walked over to where Shadow's clothes were kept and walked back with them, handing them to Shadow. "Here...the PHM kept these for some reason."
"Thank you, Rouge..." Shadow said, and immediately put his gloves, shoes, and bracelet on. Upon noticing the missing bracelet he said, "Hmm...must've been lost in the battle with the Biolizard..."
"Not really..." Rouge said, removing the bracelet from her arm and placing it on Shadow's wrist.
Shadow raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. "You kept it all this time?" he asked. He also noticed that Rouge was still holding his paw after putting the bracelet on his wrist.
"Yes...I did..." Rouge said. Amy could sense a strong emotion welling up inside Rouge at this point.
Shadow also noticed something wrong with Rouge. "What's wrong, Rouge?"
As soon as he asked that, Rouge immediately did something which surprised all present. She quickly moved forward and grabbed Shadow in a tight hug...and kissed him on the mouth. This act caused Sonic and Amy, as well as several others in the room to go completely wide-eyed.
Shadow eventually got Rouge to release him, and a somewhat embarrassed Rouge said. "I...I'm sorry, Shadow..." She then walked towards another corner of the room with Amy following her, as Sonic walked up to Shadow's side to check on him.
Shadow was still speechless from what happened as Sonic said, "Whoa...looks like Rouge liked you more than we thought, bud..."
"WE'RE IN!" Tails yelled from the computer area, causing everyone to crowd around it.
"What did you find, guys?" Teila asked.
"The project they were working on," Julie-Su said as she brought up the file. "Here it is...'Project Chaos Shadow'..."
"'Chaos Shadow'?" Shadow asked. "I don't like the sound of that..."
"Apparently they were trying to improve on Professor Gerald Kintobor's original experiment," Julie-Su continued. "They were hoping to create a being that combined the best traits of Shadow and Perfect Chaos."
"Good lord..." Anthony said.
"How could they do that?" Lisa said. "I mean...I can see using Shadow's DNA, but where were they going to get Chaos's?"
"From the Chao!" Tails realized. "If they are connected to Chaos, like Anthony mentioned one time, they might actually have Chaos's essence in them!"
"That's sounds like a reach, Tails," Knuckles said. "But considering the way Chaos reacted to them being captured, it's probably not a big reach."
"But how could they make a version of this...Chaos..." Aura asked.
"Probably from the old plans for the Artificial Chaos Series that GUN created," Rouge said. "We already know they managed to create copies of the other GUN bots."
"Which is why we need to stop what they're doing now," Rouge said, consulting the ARK map. "Looks like the draw points they used for the Chaos Emeralds all lead to this chamber." She pointed to a large area on the map as all eyes looked at it.
"Then let's get to it..." Sonic said as he turned towards where Shadow was. "Shadow are you well enough to...?" He was shocked to see Shadow nowhere in sight. "Shadow?!?"
It was at that point the Red Sonic, Lazer, and Ryan came in. "Guys," Ryan said, "Shadow just ran out of here like his shoes were on fire! What's going on?"
"Dammit...I think he's going to try to face Chaos Shadow alone!" Sonic said. "We have to go after them!"
"Teila, Lisa, Aura and I will watch the Chao," Mina said.
"I will stay behind as well," Lazer said.
"Ditto," Ryan said.
Knuckles then got a thoughtful look and said, "Guys...if this thing's going to be as dangerous as the Biolizard is, I'd better take a step to make sure the ARK doesn't fall down towards the planet again." He then manipulate the Master Emerald to the size of a golf ball and put it in his glove. He then turned towards Anthony and said, "Anthony, can you come with me to the propulsion control room? I need to set up the Master Emerald to keep the ARK in orbit, just in case..."
"...and you need the Servers as well," Anthony said, finishing Knuckles's statement. "I understand...I actually saw this in the game as well. Let's move!"
The group then dispersed as they headed towards their respective destinations.
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ARK STAGE 12 - Engineering Sector
CHARACTER: Knuckles
MUSIC: "Feel the Beat (JS16 Dark Remix)" by Darude
OBJECTIVE: Ready the Master Emerald
Knuckles and Anthony ran as fast as they could down the engineering sector. The place was loaded with Hunter Series bots, and Anthony wished the TGM was up and running. The two of them still managed to down the bots with a series of hard punches and lightsaber blows.
As they came nearer and nearer to their destination, they managed to run into what was mentioned earlier...a group of Artificial Chaos Series units...P-100 to be precise. Anthony knew from the games where to hit them, but Knuckles beat him to the punch (so to speak) and downed several of them before Anthony could tell him.
Eventually, the two of them reached the main staging area where Knuckles had placed the Master Emerald during his previous trip to the ARK. He got out the Master Emerald, manipulated it so it was the size of a basketball, and placed it in a recess that was in the floor.
"Now what do we do?" Anthony asked him.
Knuckles sat down on the ground and said, "We wait...if we need to use it, I'll perform the incantation."
"You mean that 'The Servers are the seven Chaos...' bit?" Anthony asked him.
Knuckles looked up and said, "You know that?"
"That was in the Sonic Adventure 2 game as well," Anthony said, keeping an eye out for other bots or other troops.
Knuckles shook his head and said, "I have GOT to check out that game..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARK STAGE 13 - Fusion Point
BONUS CHARACTER: Shadow
MUSIC: "Prayer" by Disturbed
OBJECTIVE: Get to the fusion point to stop PHM's project!
Shadow was running as fast as he could...not even slowing down as he Spin Dashed through several PHM bots and dodged several shots from the human soldiers. Many of the PHM soldiers were surprised to see Shadow out of the containment tube...some were even afraid, knowing what Shadow had done previously.
Shadow was focused only on one thing...stopping the PHM's plan. He still felt the specter of Maria looking over him...asking him to make everyone happy.
"I will do this, Maria..." Shadow thought as he took down a couple of PHM soldiers. "I won't let you down. I'll stop them and then...perhaps now we can see each other again..."
As he continued down towards his destination, he noticed the number of troops beginning to dwindle. He took this as a good sign and continued running. Eventually, he reached what looked like a large laboratory, almost empty and seeming almost like an arena of sorts.
"This must be the place..." Shadow thought to himself. "Now to find the place where..."
His thoughts were interrupted when a large voice boomed over a loudspeaker into the room. "Welcome, Project Shadow!"
Shadow looked up towards the source of the voice and said, "The head of the PHM I take it?"
"Yes...and I must say you've become as annoying as the other furs that infiltrated our base," the voice continued to say. "But no matter...you've actually made things rather easy for us. We haven't gotten a chance to extract your DNA for our little creation yet...but we can still get it by taking it from your bloody corpse."
As soon as the voice said that, Shadow noticed a portion of the floor opening. Pretty soon, a figure came out of the opening. It looked like a somewhat smaller version of Perfect Chaos...but it was almost a translucent dark purple in color with yellowish eyes.
"You are now obsolete, Project Shadow..." the voice said, "and soon all the rest of you freakish furs will follow! Now...you two play nice..."
Shadow looked at the creature that appeared, almost shocked that they would create such a thing. As the creature roared, Shadow readied himself to attack...knowing full well this was going to be a tough fight.
ARK BOSS STAGE - CHAOS SPAWN
BONUS CHARACTER: Shadow
MUSIC: "Supporting Me" (Biolizard's theme from Sonic Adventure 2)
The Chaos Spawn not only had the looks of Perfect Chaos, but also seemed to have the power as it fired blast after blast of energy at Shadow. Shadow had to move fast to avoid being hit by the creature's attacks, a difficult task at best due to the fact the creature seemed to be almost as fast as he was.
Eventually, Shadow spotted an opening and dashed towards Chaos Spawn. He spinned towards its head and scored a hit, causing the creature to reel back. The creature retaliated by throwing Shadow, causing him to hit a nearby wall hard and nearly knocking him out. This, however, did nothing more than enrage Shadow. He powered up a Spin Dash and then rocketed towards Chaos Shadow at top speed. He then leapt towards the head of the creature and impacted it hard, causing him to literally blast through to the other side of it THROUGH the head.
Chaos Shadow, now with a gaping hole through its watery head, wobbled back and forth from the attack, and then collapsed on the ground. Shadow grinned as he saw the creature begin to melt into a puddle and seep into the cracks in the floor where the opening was.
"That's why I'm the ultimate lifeform..." Shadow said, talking almost to himself. He then noticed Sonic and several of the others running in.
"Shadow, are you alright?" Sonic said. He then noticed the last of Chaos Spawn seeing into the floor. "Ew...what was that?!?"
"Their first attempt at Chaos Shadow..." Shadow said, and then turned towards the loudspeaker. "So much for your ultimate weapon, PHM!"
All present could hear a growling from the other end. "You haven't won yet, furs. We can easily remake the Chaos Spawn and then..."
"Sir," another voice said on the intercom. "Something is happening with the Chaos Spawn. It appears to be mutating!"
"What?" the PHM commander said, not caring that the intercom was still on.
"SIR! It's breaking through the containment shield!"
"Stop it! Get it under control...NOW!!!"
The group wondered what was going on, and Red Sonic was jokingly saying, "Heh...their big bad master plan, and they can't even control it!"
It was then that Julie-Su noticed something about Shadow. It looked as if one of his reddish quills was becoming even more red. She removed her glove and touched the quill, and gasped when she noticed some of the red on her fingers. "Shadow! You were hurt!"
"What?" Shadow said, touching the area Julie-Su did and noticing the blood stain on his glove when he looked at it. "Oh no..."
"What's wrong?" Tails asked.
"That thing I defeated needed my DNA to be complete..." Shadow said. "And if I was bleeding when I attacked it..."
Suddenly the entire room began to shake, and another voice could be heard over the loudspeaker. "SIR!! It's broken through! It's outside the ARK!!!"
The entire group went to a nearby window and watched as a seeming shapeless blob of translucent purple liquid began to take shape. It grew almost to the size the Biolizard was and began to take a new shape, looking almost like a hedgehog except without a muzzle. Only a couple of large yellowish eyes could be seen on its face, and it also seemed to have core of pure energy located in its torso where the heart would be.
"This is bad..." Amy said.
"You have a talent for understatement, Amy..." Sonic said. "I think what that is...is a completed Chaos Shadow..."
The next hour was spent trying to figure out the purpose of the lab. Aura and Lisa were busy helping tend to the Chao...Ryan, Lazer, and Red Sonic were busy keeping watch for any soldiers...Tails and Julie-Su were continuing to hack into the computer...Shadow was giving himself a once over to check for any physical problems, with Sonic, Amy, and Rouge standing nearby to lend aid if necessary...and Anthony was busy talking to Knuckles.
"So, I'm stuck with the Chaos Emeralds?" Anthony said.
"Looks like it," Knuckles said. "My guess is the Servers chose you...to be their Guardian."
"Oh great..." Anthony said. "Sorry man."
"Don't be, I'm still Guardian of the Island and of the Master Emerald," Knuckles said, holding up the Emerald in question. "Actually, you should be honored."
"Honored? I'm frightened out of my wits!" Anthony said. "I don't need this kind of power in my possession, and I STILL haven't figured out what kind of Descendancy psionic abilities are in the white and sky blue Emeralds!"
As they continued to talk, Shadow finished looking himself over and said, "Looks like I'm fine. I'm just glad they didn't get to me for whatever they were planning."
"I'm with that..." Sonic said.
Rouge immediately walked over to where Shadow's clothes were kept and walked back with them, handing them to Shadow. "Here...the PHM kept these for some reason."
"Thank you, Rouge..." Shadow said, and immediately put his gloves, shoes, and bracelet on. Upon noticing the missing bracelet he said, "Hmm...must've been lost in the battle with the Biolizard..."
"Not really..." Rouge said, removing the bracelet from her arm and placing it on Shadow's wrist.
Shadow raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. "You kept it all this time?" he asked. He also noticed that Rouge was still holding his paw after putting the bracelet on his wrist.
"Yes...I did..." Rouge said. Amy could sense a strong emotion welling up inside Rouge at this point.
Shadow also noticed something wrong with Rouge. "What's wrong, Rouge?"
As soon as he asked that, Rouge immediately did something which surprised all present. She quickly moved forward and grabbed Shadow in a tight hug...and kissed him on the mouth. This act caused Sonic and Amy, as well as several others in the room to go completely wide-eyed.
Shadow eventually got Rouge to release him, and a somewhat embarrassed Rouge said. "I...I'm sorry, Shadow..." She then walked towards another corner of the room with Amy following her, as Sonic walked up to Shadow's side to check on him.
Shadow was still speechless from what happened as Sonic said, "Whoa...looks like Rouge liked you more than we thought, bud..."
"WE'RE IN!" Tails yelled from the computer area, causing everyone to crowd around it.
"What did you find, guys?" Teila asked.
"The project they were working on," Julie-Su said as she brought up the file. "Here it is...'Project Chaos Shadow'..."
"'Chaos Shadow'?" Shadow asked. "I don't like the sound of that..."
"Apparently they were trying to improve on Professor Gerald Kintobor's original experiment," Julie-Su continued. "They were hoping to create a being that combined the best traits of Shadow and Perfect Chaos."
"Good lord..." Anthony said.
"How could they do that?" Lisa said. "I mean...I can see using Shadow's DNA, but where were they going to get Chaos's?"
"From the Chao!" Tails realized. "If they are connected to Chaos, like Anthony mentioned one time, they might actually have Chaos's essence in them!"
"That's sounds like a reach, Tails," Knuckles said. "But considering the way Chaos reacted to them being captured, it's probably not a big reach."
"But how could they make a version of this...Chaos..." Aura asked.
"Probably from the old plans for the Artificial Chaos Series that GUN created," Rouge said. "We already know they managed to create copies of the other GUN bots."
"Which is why we need to stop what they're doing now," Rouge said, consulting the ARK map. "Looks like the draw points they used for the Chaos Emeralds all lead to this chamber." She pointed to a large area on the map as all eyes looked at it.
"Then let's get to it..." Sonic said as he turned towards where Shadow was. "Shadow are you well enough to...?" He was shocked to see Shadow nowhere in sight. "Shadow?!?"
It was at that point the Red Sonic, Lazer, and Ryan came in. "Guys," Ryan said, "Shadow just ran out of here like his shoes were on fire! What's going on?"
"Dammit...I think he's going to try to face Chaos Shadow alone!" Sonic said. "We have to go after them!"
"Teila, Lisa, Aura and I will watch the Chao," Mina said.
"I will stay behind as well," Lazer said.
"Ditto," Ryan said.
Knuckles then got a thoughtful look and said, "Guys...if this thing's going to be as dangerous as the Biolizard is, I'd better take a step to make sure the ARK doesn't fall down towards the planet again." He then manipulate the Master Emerald to the size of a golf ball and put it in his glove. He then turned towards Anthony and said, "Anthony, can you come with me to the propulsion control room? I need to set up the Master Emerald to keep the ARK in orbit, just in case..."
"...and you need the Servers as well," Anthony said, finishing Knuckles's statement. "I understand...I actually saw this in the game as well. Let's move!"
The group then dispersed as they headed towards their respective destinations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARK STAGE 12 - Engineering Sector
CHARACTER: Knuckles
MUSIC: "Feel the Beat (JS16 Dark Remix)" by Darude
OBJECTIVE: Ready the Master Emerald
Knuckles and Anthony ran as fast as they could down the engineering sector. The place was loaded with Hunter Series bots, and Anthony wished the TGM was up and running. The two of them still managed to down the bots with a series of hard punches and lightsaber blows.
As they came nearer and nearer to their destination, they managed to run into what was mentioned earlier...a group of Artificial Chaos Series units...P-100 to be precise. Anthony knew from the games where to hit them, but Knuckles beat him to the punch (so to speak) and downed several of them before Anthony could tell him.
Eventually, the two of them reached the main staging area where Knuckles had placed the Master Emerald during his previous trip to the ARK. He got out the Master Emerald, manipulated it so it was the size of a basketball, and placed it in a recess that was in the floor.
"Now what do we do?" Anthony asked him.
Knuckles sat down on the ground and said, "We wait...if we need to use it, I'll perform the incantation."
"You mean that 'The Servers are the seven Chaos...' bit?" Anthony asked him.
Knuckles looked up and said, "You know that?"
"That was in the Sonic Adventure 2 game as well," Anthony said, keeping an eye out for other bots or other troops.
Knuckles shook his head and said, "I have GOT to check out that game..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARK STAGE 13 - Fusion Point
BONUS CHARACTER: Shadow
MUSIC: "Prayer" by Disturbed
OBJECTIVE: Get to the fusion point to stop PHM's project!
Shadow was running as fast as he could...not even slowing down as he Spin Dashed through several PHM bots and dodged several shots from the human soldiers. Many of the PHM soldiers were surprised to see Shadow out of the containment tube...some were even afraid, knowing what Shadow had done previously.
Shadow was focused only on one thing...stopping the PHM's plan. He still felt the specter of Maria looking over him...asking him to make everyone happy.
"I will do this, Maria..." Shadow thought as he took down a couple of PHM soldiers. "I won't let you down. I'll stop them and then...perhaps now we can see each other again..."
As he continued down towards his destination, he noticed the number of troops beginning to dwindle. He took this as a good sign and continued running. Eventually, he reached what looked like a large laboratory, almost empty and seeming almost like an arena of sorts.
"This must be the place..." Shadow thought to himself. "Now to find the place where..."
His thoughts were interrupted when a large voice boomed over a loudspeaker into the room. "Welcome, Project Shadow!"
Shadow looked up towards the source of the voice and said, "The head of the PHM I take it?"
"Yes...and I must say you've become as annoying as the other furs that infiltrated our base," the voice continued to say. "But no matter...you've actually made things rather easy for us. We haven't gotten a chance to extract your DNA for our little creation yet...but we can still get it by taking it from your bloody corpse."
As soon as the voice said that, Shadow noticed a portion of the floor opening. Pretty soon, a figure came out of the opening. It looked like a somewhat smaller version of Perfect Chaos...but it was almost a translucent dark purple in color with yellowish eyes.
"You are now obsolete, Project Shadow..." the voice said, "and soon all the rest of you freakish furs will follow! Now...you two play nice..."
Shadow looked at the creature that appeared, almost shocked that they would create such a thing. As the creature roared, Shadow readied himself to attack...knowing full well this was going to be a tough fight.
ARK BOSS STAGE - CHAOS SPAWN
BONUS CHARACTER: Shadow
MUSIC: "Supporting Me" (Biolizard's theme from Sonic Adventure 2)
The Chaos Spawn not only had the looks of Perfect Chaos, but also seemed to have the power as it fired blast after blast of energy at Shadow. Shadow had to move fast to avoid being hit by the creature's attacks, a difficult task at best due to the fact the creature seemed to be almost as fast as he was.
Eventually, Shadow spotted an opening and dashed towards Chaos Spawn. He spinned towards its head and scored a hit, causing the creature to reel back. The creature retaliated by throwing Shadow, causing him to hit a nearby wall hard and nearly knocking him out. This, however, did nothing more than enrage Shadow. He powered up a Spin Dash and then rocketed towards Chaos Shadow at top speed. He then leapt towards the head of the creature and impacted it hard, causing him to literally blast through to the other side of it THROUGH the head.
Chaos Shadow, now with a gaping hole through its watery head, wobbled back and forth from the attack, and then collapsed on the ground. Shadow grinned as he saw the creature begin to melt into a puddle and seep into the cracks in the floor where the opening was.
"That's why I'm the ultimate lifeform..." Shadow said, talking almost to himself. He then noticed Sonic and several of the others running in.
"Shadow, are you alright?" Sonic said. He then noticed the last of Chaos Spawn seeing into the floor. "Ew...what was that?!?"
"Their first attempt at Chaos Shadow..." Shadow said, and then turned towards the loudspeaker. "So much for your ultimate weapon, PHM!"
All present could hear a growling from the other end. "You haven't won yet, furs. We can easily remake the Chaos Spawn and then..."
"Sir," another voice said on the intercom. "Something is happening with the Chaos Spawn. It appears to be mutating!"
"What?" the PHM commander said, not caring that the intercom was still on.
"SIR! It's breaking through the containment shield!"
"Stop it! Get it under control...NOW!!!"
The group wondered what was going on, and Red Sonic was jokingly saying, "Heh...their big bad master plan, and they can't even control it!"
It was then that Julie-Su noticed something about Shadow. It looked as if one of his reddish quills was becoming even more red. She removed her glove and touched the quill, and gasped when she noticed some of the red on her fingers. "Shadow! You were hurt!"
"What?" Shadow said, touching the area Julie-Su did and noticing the blood stain on his glove when he looked at it. "Oh no..."
"What's wrong?" Tails asked.
"That thing I defeated needed my DNA to be complete..." Shadow said. "And if I was bleeding when I attacked it..."
Suddenly the entire room began to shake, and another voice could be heard over the loudspeaker. "SIR!! It's broken through! It's outside the ARK!!!"
The entire group went to a nearby window and watched as a seeming shapeless blob of translucent purple liquid began to take shape. It grew almost to the size the Biolizard was and began to take a new shape, looking almost like a hedgehog except without a muzzle. Only a couple of large yellowish eyes could be seen on its face, and it also seemed to have core of pure energy located in its torso where the heart would be.
"This is bad..." Amy said.
"You have a talent for understatement, Amy..." Sonic said. "I think what that is...is a completed Chaos Shadow..."