This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 5: Crossing the Rubicon

In the distance, he could hear the marching, the incoming onslaught that would lay this place to ruin. Checking his pouch, Shadow noticed that all the rings he had up to now were wasted, just like the one he had in the hospital. Ditching the lot of them, he charged into the forest, looking for more. If it took eight rings to save Bunnie, it would take a lot more to stop an army of robots.

* * *

Charging through the forest, barely visible to the naked eye in the already dark trees, a black vapour skirted through the mighty giants. Wherever a ring appeared, it soon disappeared, taken by silent hands into the ether.

But the rings had more than one pursuer; another had been on the prowl for them. Near a mighty oak, a lone ring waited as a figure descended on it. A hand reached and grabbed the golden treasure, just as the shadow whispered by. The ring was pulled in two directions. Shadow was stopped and almost fell over, while his competitor was yanked to the ground.

"Who the Hell are you?!" Shadow demanded, still clenching the ring.

"What do you think you're doing? That's mine!" The stranger stood up, still gripping the ring in the right hand.

Shadow was now able to get a clear view of his opponent. Standing slightly taller than him, and dressed in a black leather suit that was wide open at the top; the hefty cleavage easily revealed that it was a woman. She wore white boots and gloves with several pink hearts on them, and a big one on her chest to further exemplify her large bosom. The wings told him the rest, this was Rouge, one of the most famous treasure hunters in the world; if it sparkled or shined, then she wanted it.

"I need these."

"Get in line buddy, no one steals from Rouge the Bat. Surely you've heard of me."

Shadow was not about to let this bitch get to him. "Can't say that I have."

"Hmph! Well, perhaps I should teach you not to mess with me." Still holding the ring, Rouge started kicking at Shadow, to the face, to the legs, to the chest, straight up the middle. Shadow didn't let go either, and dodged every assault.

"You're quick. I've been hearing tales of a speedy hedgehog around here, named 'Sonic'. Are you him, or are all hedgehogs this fast of foot?"

"I am not he, and there is only one hedgehog who possesses such speed, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you perceive it."

"Then who are you?" She asked coyly.

"And give you an advantage? I am Shadow, and I demand you relinquish this ring immediately."

"Not a chance Mr. Shadow. Perhaps I should shine a light on you and make you disappear."

Shadow couldn't wait around for this dingbat any longer; he was in a real hurry. "Fine, keep it; I'll just take those over there."

Rouge looked over at the bunch of rings hidden behind some trees. "Oh no you don't… ?"

When she turned away from the rings in the brush, she found that Shadow was gone, leaving only the ring in her hand. Looking back, the four hidden rings were also gone.

"Where did he go?"

* * *

Almost a mile away, things were not going well. Geoffrey's troop, which was originally 103 strong, had been whittled down to 54, and many were injured. They had hunkered down behind rocks, and trees, trying to hold their position against the oncoming robotic army. Almost 100 SWATbots, 30 Buzzers and a dozen tanks made up the attacking party, and so far only a dozen were felled. They had hoped that the woods would slow the invaders, but the Robots kept coming, and the tanks simply fired into the woods, destroying trees and crushing the brush under their oversized treads.

"Sir, we aren't faring very well."

Geoffrey tried his best to remain calm, even though he knew defeat was coming very quickly.

"Send a messenger back to Knothole, and tell them to evacuate. We'll try to hold them for a little while longer."

Cannon fire screamed over their heads, exploding some of the trees in the forest.

Geoffrey sat there, watching the oncoming hordes. He knew they were beaten; they came into battle beaten. The former king's guard knew full well that they were going to die. No one had any fight in them, despite all his attempts to rile them; no one wanted to fight anymore. After Sonic's death, there seemed to be no hope. The skunk hated to admit it, he never liked Sonic, he was always too personable with the princess, never really listened to orders, always did things his own way; it was almost as if Sonic was put on Mobius solely for the purpose of annoying him. He despised him for all the attention that Sally gave him despite his flaws, and that many considered him a "hero". But no matter how much he denied it, Sonic inspired the hearts of the Freedom Fighters, and with him gone everyone had simply surrendered.

"I'm not going to let these rust buckets break me." He turned back and called to his remaining forces.

"I want everyone who is still fit and strong to come to the front! We must make one last stand against these monstrosities, and show Robotnik that we will NEVER SURRENDER!!!"

* * *

Deep in the forest, a cry echoed through the woods, too deep and distant for any to hear.

"Chaos Control!"

* * *

Almost reluctantly, anyone left standing had moved forward.

"Men, I fear that this day is lost. We can only hope that the people of Knothole can escape, and that our princess will be safe. I am proud to have served with all of you, and I hope that what awaits us on the other side will be far better than this."

Geoffrey paused. He took a quick look around to his remaining army, all of them showing the same gloom of death, but all having at least some spirit to let rise to the surface. He raised his sword for the final command. "Company…"

From behind came a whirring sound unlike anything that was ever heard in the woods, Geoffrey was distracted enough to turn back and see a green flare coming straight at him at break neck speed. Instinctively, he and his troops braced themselves to the trees as the green light zoomed past, carrying a powerful gust of wind in it's wake.

"What the Hell was that?!"

The robots also saw the green comet, but didn't have the instincts to dodge. The light slammed into the first robot in the way, and it exploded in a red fiery cloud. The blaze didn't stop there, and reflected off towards another robot, destroying it on contact. Geoffrey and the others gazed on as the robots were decimated by the green light that spun around trees, climbing them to get at the buzzers, and falling to continue against the SWATbots.

The tanks were quite distant and uninvolved in the counterattack. Their mighty barrels moved, trying to lock onto the glowing green blur, but it was futile. They would fire as best they could, but the only thing they could hit were the trees and the unfortunate robots that were caught in the middle of the slaughter.

Within seconds of the start, it was over. The robots were decimated and standing in the middle of the carnage, facing the tanks stood a dark figure with glaring white highlights, and a green essence of small lights flowed from the ground he stood on like wild floating embers from a fire. From behind, the Freedom Fighters couldn't believe what they were seeing. From the bad angle it wouldn't be possible to tell who is really was, or wasn't; but to all, it appeared that the ghost of Sonic had come to save them all. Only Geoffrey realized who was standing back to them, and he was equally shocked.

The tanks locked on.

Shadow called in a most evil voice. "I'm not going to move from this spot, so you've got one shot at me! You had better make it count!"

The tanks fired straight and true.

Before the shells hit their intended target, the green aura flared, and to Shadow, time had been reduced to a crawl. The oversized bullets were pulled into a green nightmare, as was everything else, but only they were fast enough to register any motion. They came within a few feet of Shadow when he pulled his arms back, and swung forward in a massive energy-infused double-cross punch. A huge energy wave smashed the shells.

Outside the aura, the tanks watched as the shells crashed into the green flame, only to be thrown back at them in a mass of green energy. With no chance to move out of the way, the tanks were obliterated.

The threat was eliminated, and the green aura faded, releasing Shadow back into normal space and time.

While most of Geoffrey's men where knocked completely for a loop by the surprise change in events, the leader of the pack had marched forward towards the dark hedgehog.

"So, are you helping us after all?"

Without even turning to face him, "I have my reasons."

"And they are?"

"Simply put, I realize there is a great enemy out there, and something has to be done about it."

"I suppose we could rely on that."

Shadow turned his head to see the skunk behind him. "I wouldn't if I were you; I am not someone you should trust, just the opposite. So long as Robotnik is alive, he will have me as an enemy, but don't think that makes us allies by a long shot."

Geoffrey started to turn away. "I don't think you have to worry about that; to be honest, I didn't like you much before, and my opinion hasn't changed very much since."

"That's the other reason."

Geoffrey stopped.

"My very helping you disturbs me greatly, because it's what he did. I do not fully understand why, but I despise him; something you and I share, but for different reasons." Shadow chuckled once. "But, although our reasons are different, they're probably equal in their invalidity."

"He was a total show-off and showed no respect, not to me, especially not to princess Sally."

"And she liked him, in spite of his attitude and you."

"Yes."

"Then I was right, our resentment of him is equal: totally invalid."

Geoffrey was taken aback.

"There is no point to further harbour such feelings, he's gone. But that is why it is so hard to do this, to help all or any of you. It is not because of the hatred I had, that I will get over, but because of everyone else. You see, everyone has become so despondent since Sonic's death, and they feel all hope is lost; a hole was created in their hearts. They now seek something to fill the void. If I help you, there is little doubt that they will try to replace him with me. That sickens me, and it is a burden I don't want."

"The job of 'hero' scares you."

"No, what you are doing scares me."

"Me?"

"Yes. You have good reason not to trust me, but that is not why you resent me. The real reason you loathe me is because Sonic is gone, and the hatred you had for him has nowhere to go. Here I am, a 'hero' who just saved the day, shortly after the loss of your last hero. To make matters worse, we're both hedgehogs, and from a distance, you probably couldn't tell the difference between us. You know full well that I'm not Sonic, but deep in your heart, whatever feelings you had for him are transferring to me. That is what I fear, that I will be nothing more than a shadow of him. I am Shadow by name only, and I have my own life to live, not someone else's."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Shadow paused to consider Geoffrey's words. "If you truly mean that, then I will help you."

Shadow turned and reached out with his right hand. Geoffrey looked at it for a second and thought. Slowly, he reached out and took it.

To be continued