Chapter 9: Where IS Everybody?

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As Sonic is making new friends, what's become of his old ones? More importantly, what about the "others"?

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Knuckles woke up. He was groggy. As everything came into focus, he tried to get a fix on his whereabouts. After a few glances and a few smells, he could tell he was in a real nasty spot. Stumbling to his feet, he finally snapped out of his stupor. That's when he saw he was in some sort of tunnel system.

For a few moments, wishing at least his sense of smell was still on the blink, he looked around for a way out. Suddenly, he spied an odd lump on the ground in front of him. It was red and pink. Gasping, he sat Amy Rose up. She seemed all right. But, to make sure, Knuckles began shaking her, tapping her on the cheek, trying to get her to respond.

A few moments of coaxing and she finally came to. "Huh? Knuckles..." she said groggily. "Where are we?" Knuckles answered, "Frankly, I've got no idea." Coming to now, Amy looked at him flustered, "What do you mean?" As she began to stand up, Knuckles answered the second question, "What I mean is we've been transported somewhere." Amy was looking at Knuckles like he was crazy, "How do you know?" "Because," he stated, trying to keep calm, a first for him, "that big burst of white light, was Chaos Control."

Amy was a bit more respectful now. "You mean?" she asked worriedly. "Yep," Knuckles said as he noticed a slit in the ceiling, "We've been warped through time/space and now we're here, wherever/whenever that is." When he finished, Knuckles climbed up the side of the wall. He peered out.

He dropped from the wall and landed in front of Amy. He was silent, more so than usual, an agitated look on his face. Amy was really worried now, "What is it?"

Knuckles finally spoke, very slowly, "We, we must be in another world." Amy near popped, "What?!" Knuckles got a hold of himself, "Wherever/whenever we are, it's not our world. Everything is so different, like nothing I've ever really seen before."

Amy was near tears, "Well, are any of the others here with us? What are we going to do?" Knuckles became more assertive, "First, I don't know. Second, we'll do whatever we can." With that, he stormed off. Amy jogged behind, "Wait for me!"

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In a dark alleyway, the body stirred. You wouldn't have been able to tell, seeing as how it was mostly black itself. The body lived up to his name, Shadow. He too had to groggily awaken to radically different surroundings. But, unlike everyone else so far, his head was spinning. Something had gone wrong, something powerful. Ever since he came to in the care of Dr. Eggman, he was just so confused. For weeks his mind had been tormented.

He couldn't keep things straight. So, he narrowed it down in order to focus. Dipping into his memory, remembered who he was, Shadow. He remembered who his only friend was, Maria. But, his memory became foggy at certain points about her. He gave up on trying to focus on that, he just clung to the fact that SHE was his friend, and no one could take that from him. Next, he sorted out his "allies" first there was Dr. Eggman and some mysterious woman, some bat. If he could see her, he'd remember. Then it hit him.

His enemies. His RIVAL. Yes, that came flooding back to him. He remembered that HE Shadow was created as the Ultimate Life-Form and that he was perfection itself. But, someone dared to upstage him, someone he'd faced before. Though he was fuzzy over a number of aspects about him, he understood a few crucial things.

First of all, this upstart was as fast as he was. Second, he was very powerful, so much so that he could activate HIS special ability of Chaos Control for himself. Yes, Sonic the Hedgehog, that scum! He was the obstacle in his life to being THE Ultimate Life form. Shadow then made his decision; he'd do whatever it would take to find Sonic. And then, ELIMINATE HIM.

Poor Shadow, once more, thanks to his creator's designs and the meddling of Eggman, he was on the wrong path. What was worse, Sonic and friends had already accepted the fact that he was evil the minute they'd become aware of him heading into Eggman's fort.

Before Shadow went out and about, he'd decided to keep a low profile. He hated large crowds, which apparently lay beyond his shadowy enclosure, and he definitely wanted to track down his foes without anyone knowing. And, as he began to quietly maneuver the deep darkness of the streets, he wondered if things were what they seemed. Was he, NOT where he was supposed to be? Was he lost in a place, maybe world, he'd never been to? He brushed that off. His mission needed to come first.

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Sitting up, stretching and yawning wide enough for her fangs to sparkle in the neon light, Rouge finally awoke. What a wonderful nap, she thought to herself. She stood up and began to take a tipsy walk around. She almost tripped over a loose roofing tile. She would've fallen off a tall building, if she hadn't been alert at any rate. She then realized she was in a city, on a building with a soft glowing neon light advertising a club. Never a pessimist about herself, Rouge saw opportunity in this. She didn't care where she was, at least not right now. What she did care about was what treasures did this rich little burg have to offer?

While pondering that fact, she realized that she wasn't in Eggman's pay anymore. Fair enough, she had considered stealing the Chaos Emeralds from him anyway. She figured that's why he'd only entrusted her with bringing one emerald at time to him. Slick as he might think himself though, Rouge was always slicker. Her plan WAS to maybe steal the emeralds from him as soon as he handed over the rest of her official pay. She equaled it to getting paid for a job well done, with a bonus, actually seven bonuses.

With no Eggman or emeralds in sight, though, she didn't even have the remotest idea of how to GET paid. Just as well, she was on freelance again. Oh well. Who wouldn't want a brilliant and beautiful spy/treasure- hunter/thief on their payroll? Judging by this city, there had to be plenty of "beings" that'd fill in as an employer. And, if there weren't any to be found, or if whomever she found was gullible enough, she'd just TAKE what she wanted anyway.

With a slight giggle, Rouge decided to scout around for herself in the darkened sky. Thus, under cover of night, a tiny UFO began her tour of the city.

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The Next Day...

Cream had slept so soundly. She would have continued sleeping soundly with Cheese in her arms like a Chao "Teddy-Bear", if not for the loud noises disturbing the two of them.

She looked around, sleep in her eyes. After she rubbed her eyes and got a better look, she could tell she was up somewhere high. Worse, there these strange people all around on the ground. Suddenly, a ladder slammed on the edge of their perch. Someone was coming up to them. She hadn't felt so lost in her life. It was all going by so fast. This strange man in yellow was climbing up. She had to do something.

Being a child though, she clamped down on Cheese, who instantly woke up, due to the sudden jolts and noises. Cream was near crying as she saw the odd man approaching. "Please stay away," she whimpered, "I'm so scared." Cheese, just as terrified squeaked out, "Chao."

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It was the perfect hiding spot. Tails had managed to create a small shelter for himself and his plane out of bits of junk he'd collected. He'd worked a good part of the night away on fixing the holes in the Tornado 2's fuselage, motor, etc. So in order to celebrate, he promptly fell asleep in the cockpit.

He laid there all the rest of the night. Being a light sleeper though, brought him back to the real world when he heard the sounds coming from the ultimate brain cell killer: Television. He peered out a crack and saw a nearby shack in the middle of the junkyard. Funny he'd missed that before. It was late afternoon now, and a strange person was fiddling with a small monitor. He'd push buttons and many different things came on and off. Tails was about to go back to sleep when he heard some familiar voices. "Please stay away. I'm so scared." "Chao." Tails couldn't believe it, wherever he was, Cream and Cheese had come with him. He peered as hard as he could through the crack. Sure enough, they had! Worse, they were in danger!

Suddenly, the monitor showed a woman talking. Tails strained to hear. "That was the scene earlier today," the woman said. "The strange rabbit like creature and its companion were found in the downtown area and taken into custody by the police department. However, this and sightings of other strange creatures has prompted the army to take control. They have taken custody of the two creatures and have transferred them to a research facility for further testing." At that point a picture of a strange complex with runways and buildings came up on the screen. The woman's voice could still be heard, "The army has decided to keep the alien creature here, at its scientific facility: Area 99, in the southwest. It will be determined if this creature is a threat or not." With that, the person watching switched the set off in disgust.

Tails was shocked and unsure of what to do. Realizing that he was Sonic the Hedgehog's former sidekick/upcoming hero, he knew what he had to do: SAVE THE DAY! Quickly, he hopped into the Tornado 2's cockpit and prepared for takeoff.

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Outside Tails' little shanty, the owner of the junkyard scratched his head as he left his office. What nonsense. First his dogs somehow manage to get their foolish selves locked into one of the cars and now "bunny rabbits from space". What next?

Suddenly, the junk next to him exploded in different directions and he was knocked on his back. As he looked up to see what had hit him, he could've sworn he saw a FOX with TWO TAILS flying A BI-PLANE!

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End Chapter Sonic Shout-Out:

Gee, what a surprise for a junk dealer! Anyway, it's no surprise I've got another shout-out. This time it goes out to:

Skystalker!!

Even though you only commented on how the story was going, I'd like to drop this thought to everyone: When I have Rouge and Knuckles "thinking" about each other, am I trying to pass on a spoiler, or am I simply misleading you with what I'D like to see? Hmmm? Well, now that that little question is in your head, I'm out of here. But, I shall return! After all, tomorrow is the FINAL CHAPTER! DON'T MISS IT!!