Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic. That's my point.
What I did for the last chapter was to give you people a personal background for Blizzard, and to give you some thought of what Shadow was thinking, and doing after he had taken off. If I made Shadow seem a bit too sentimental towards the end; ex: the crying bit, being thoughtful, etc. Then that was by all means on time's fault, and I apologize for the elapse of not updating. Here is 18 for you. Enjoy.
(a/n: Sorry if it seems a little small in the beginning… I had a ton of writer's block. And believe me, you wouldn't want it.)
Broken Hope"MY BABY!!!" cried an over-worked mother fox, who was frantically crying from a jeep tearing though the wet desert sand. She frantically leapt from the vehicle and dashed through the sand in archeologist-like clothing, except she had khakis on. The father had desperately tried to keep the mother contained down in her seat, but he failed.
"Mary-Ann! Please be patient!" Cried Lawrence C. Voltari.
"No, my baby's hurt!"
The shouting surprised the group soon after, especially a wincing Jen-Marie.
"Momma! Papa! I'm –ow… okay!" As soon as both parents arrived on the scene, Mary-Ann scooped Jen from Blizzard's shoulder, cradling her very carefully, and sobbing half to death, with a groaning father in the background.
"Uh…. Sorry, but we gotta jet!" Shouted Sonic, when Blizzard grabbed a hold of Sonic's shoulder and placed her other hand on the surface of the Torando's mechanical leg, and Knuckles managed to grab his other shoulder.
"Chaos Control!"
In the light of events, Amy was rushed to the nearest hospital near Station Square after Sonic safely transported everyone, minus Shadow, with the Chaos Control, leaving behind a smoldering ruin of the former pyramid base.
Atop a sand dune in the way farther distance, was a splayed, struggling body, red and silver, none in doubt. The creature glared with intensity at the departing group that was using Chaos Control. Standing upright slowly, flinching with some aching pain, Katai glowered, and turned his back, muttering something underneath his own breath.
Later…The home in San Francisco was merely like a summer home Amy always lived in every summer, so technically that wasn't her real home. As the time passed, the clock seemed to tick the existence away slowly, making everyone nervous, and impatient slightly.
Apparently, everyone made his or her stakeout at the waiting room within the healthcare facility. The Guardian was grumbling, merely pondering why he wasn't able to detect the gayish bat when he arrived. He needed those pieces back, now. And sitting in a public place was no place for him since who in the hell knows where that black bat has gone. Looking at Tails play a small card game by himself, he pondered, since it was quite… boring here now.
Tails was playing a small game of solitaire, picking up some cards, and placing down matching red-to-black or black-to-red pairs according to their suits. Snatching up a card from the draw pile, he frowned that he didn't find the number he wanted. "I hope Amy's okay"
"Mind if I join? Go Fish, or something else?" The Red Echidna sat on the other side of Tails' solitaire game, and folded his legs Indian style. The fox lifted his head up, and nodded.
"Sure Knuckles. Go Fish it is, besides, I was getting bored of solitaire already."
Blizzard was on the floor, toying around with a few children's toys for the open waiting room. Toying with them, as in, fiddling them with her fingers, and hands out of pure boredom, until something out of the corner of her eye caught her complete attention… A small crawling young yellow hedgehog child wandered into the area, obviously got out of the sight of its parents. Blizzard paused for a moment, to see that the small hedgehog was curiously sitting near her after plopping down on the carpeted flooring, since she was messing around with the toys. Attempting a sweet smile, she hands the toys to the small one. It didn't seem too interested in the toys, but rather it decided to climb up on her like she was a ladder. Instinctively, she knew she had to take the child back. But hey, this thing was too cute to resist…
She sat the child on her knee gently, removing the child from her face, first. Cooing, the toddler drooled a little bit, but she didn't mind. Bouncing the yellow toddler up and down on her knee, the child giggled with laughter. But soon, she sort of frowned, and then halted. Plucking the child from her knee, she got up off the floor and carried the child away from the area.
"I'll be back in a moment, guys," Blizzard called out, before running towards the Nurse's Desk, which was a little ways down the hall.
Last, but not least, Sonic was ignoring anything else. Sonic's consistent pacing back and forth in an impatient manner, shoes stamping the floor with each pace. He had been that way for the last three hours, after sending Amy to the emergency room in a rush, along with Jen-Marie. His hands were behind his back, clutched together. He should have known that something like the likes of Metal Sonic would do that… hurt Amy and get away with it, but this time… this time Shadow got rid of him. Shadow actually cared enough to save Amy from that damn robotic copy? Only Blizzard got to him in time, and immediately he, Tails, Blizzard, and surprisingly, Knuckles planned to go to the Pyramid Base… instantly, with the fake Chaos Emerald he kept.
But, why did Shadow run after that black faking idiot shoved Amy into his arms? Sonic hadn't the slightest idea. All he knew was that Eggman seriously was up to something if Metal intended on taking Amy in the first place. Not to mention, whatever looked like an almost-mirror image of Knuckles needed to be solved… judging by what good ol' Knux told him, Blizzard had apparently mistaken him for a shadowy figure, which blinded both sibling hedgehogs from getting to the robotic faker, and ultimately it lead to Metal's escape. Sonic stops. He can't wait for the nurse to come down, and he was about to bolt out of the area before a female woodpecker in a nurse's outfit abruptly stopped Sonic by arriving.
His impatient pacing back and forth was literally driving Knuckles a bit batty. The Guardian merely turned his head towards the pacing Sonic. Never in his whole life had he seen Sonic this way. Nor did he find that Sonic didn't leave the building yet. He knew that he was desperately worried about his friend, but guessing that something is up definitely shows on the looks of the pacing cobalt hedgehog's face. He, too, stopped looking at Sonic as the hedgehog stopped, and almost ran towards the elevator.
"Good news, Mr. Hedgehog, Mr. Echidna, and Mr. Prower," The Woodpecker piped. "Amy's doing fairly well. Although the blood loss was quite bad, and how she was unaffected was a mystery to us. You and your friends are allowed to visit her, if you want. I'll show the way."
Tails put the cards back into the box. He gave the box to Knuckles, who put it away in his pocket. Sonic's face changed from a slightly grim to a more patient form of being okay, and normal, for the meanwhile. Signaling to follow, which all three of the guys did, and tagged along by a blinking-just-arriving-Blizzard, the woodpecker merely presses a button on the elevator keypad. Once everyone is within the elevator, the shutter doors closes, and the compartment rises. After waiting about forty seconds, Sonic zips out first once the doors slide open again, nearly knocking over the nurse.
"My, my, impatient, aren't we? Her room is just six doors from this elevator to the left."
"Let's see, six rooms down to the left, eh yeah. This must be it," Sonic asked to no one as he opened the doorknob. Inside, there were some monitors, but apparently Amy was wide-awake, sitting upright on her small hospital bed. Seemingly, everyone in the doorway froze in silence at Amy's disposition. She seemed a bit calmed, not as happy or cheerful as she usually was. Well, who can't tell by just the way she was looking out the window?
Her head turned to see Sonic, and the others standing in the doorway. She gave a small smile, dragging a tall pole aside, with water attached to it. And there was a long tube leading down to her wrist. A blue hospital gown had replaced her lavender sleeveless shirt, and her jeans. Her hair band wasn't on her head; it just sat on a table beside the bed.
"Oh… hi Sonic, hi guys…"
"Hey Amy, just up here and seeing how you're doing. Man, did we ever get you in here in time, or what?"
"Yes. Thanks, guys…. Wait… where is Shadow?" Amy gave an inquisitive look. She hadn't seen him within the bunch.
"Um… Shadow, uh, he's…-"
"He needed some time alone." Blizzard intervened Tails.
The pink hedgehog looked disappointed a bit. She wanted to thank him for saving her. Signing a bit, she flopped back onto her bed, nicely thick bandages over her leg that was sliced became apparent, and there was a white bandage patch attached to her face, preferably her cheek that was slit open, too. Why didn't he come with everyone else? She guessed he did need time alone, after his sister said so… Amy didn't remember anything after waking up for a temporary moment in the desert.
Rubbing her forehead slightly, while sighing, Amy just laid there peacefully. Soon, she'd be out of this hospital…. But what came, as a surprise was that she had survived the lack of blood. The pink one gave it some thought, with a confused expression on her face. Shaking her head some, she looked at the others, by twisting her head towards the doorway.
"The doctor says I have to stay for a few more hours. Um.. About two or three more, then I'm free to leave."
"That's great, Amy. We'll be back for you later. We're all glad to see you're okay, though." Tails chimed up.
"Eh… Well, by the look on Sonic's face, I'd say he cared a lot for her," Snickered Knuckles, who was nudging Tails to laugh along with him. All Knuckles got was a surprised face, two glares, and an angered growl from behind. "What? What'd I say?" The Echidna sheepishly apologized after that. "Hmph, can't even add humor to this, can I? I see how this is going."
"Aw shut up, Knucklehead." Spat Blizzard, who picked the nickname up from Sonic.
"What? Don't you tell me to shut up, Miss Identical twin."
"If Sonic even saw me bout fifty three years ago, I bet he'd be looking straight at a mirror. And by the way, you're nothing but a moron, so to speak."
"A moron, hm? Not likely."
"Guys, please…. Don't fight. For my sake." Amy had asked very gently giving a frown of disapproval. She didn't feel like having to deal with her friends bickering while she laid down for her occasional rest. Although she did feel a little fatigued, it was as if the loss of her blood didn't really affect her sense of awareness once she was awake in the hospital. "But, thanks you guys… for visiting me. And thank you, Sonic."
"No problem, Ames. Just get better." His signature grin, and pose came afterwards.
Elsewhere, aboard the ARK"Well, looks as if Metal Sonic failed. I pity his try at defeating the Ultimate Life Form my grandfather created. No matter, I always have my spares… a backup just in case such as this instance, ever happened… ah… I see Katai is well alive. At least he is more useful than Metal was."
Doctor Eggman began to tinker around with a large machine. There was a glass tube, very large in size, within the middle. Many levers, and brightly colored buttons were apparent on the panel just opposite from the tube. He hadn't let up on working on it since his ingenious curiosity on how those hedgehogs could use the Chaos Emeralds' energy so easily… and maybe develop a machine to sap them of it's power. Still, it was such a shock nonetheless for the doctor to find of Shadow's life still around. Amazing, it seemed.
Not only had Shadow single-handedly defeated his Metal Sonic, but also there was something else. Every scanner connected to the robotic hedgehog's program was also monitored here… and Shadow had shown an amazing growth of Chaos energy within just a few moments, beyond what he had shown in the previous two years, and even further than that according to his grandfather's research he had managed to hack off of ARK's main database. Such display of energy he could use to his advantage, yet Shadow probably will never trust the doctor ever again… well, forget the probably. Say he will –never- trust the doctor, ever. Well, maybe the man will get Shadow to do his biddings once more.
Furthermore, it seems like there was something more to the black creature. Suppose he actually came for the pink hedgehog his creation had captured, and abused? No. He couldn't care for that little annoying pest! But what gives now? What is his motivation for caring for Amy Rose? The Ultimate Life Form couldn't have feelings for the little rodent, could he? It didn't matter now….
"Wait…. So… maybe suppose he does have uncertain feelings for Amy. That's it! She is the key in getting him under my control! Haha! Simple kidnapping, again, will do the trick… and this time, they won't know where she is… at all." The sinister doctor managed to chuckle beneath his breath, oh would he have a ball getting Shadow to do his every bidding… but, an even better an idea… transform him into something worthwhile, the true invincible ultimate life form. Not a feeble organic version that pities everything in sight.
"Hm. You have always been here the whole time. This is my main base of operations… and I never let anyone out alive, especially little creatures... nothing but my mindless mechanical slaves. You will make history in my marker by saving me the trouble of getting rid of Shadow, and Sonic, plus their pathetic little band of 'friends', but you are only the last phase of my plan. Oh just wait… I will have those two hedgehogs within my grasp. Permanently, if I cannot seem to be rid of them, of course." Eggman patted the machine he stood in front of. He knew his plans would carry out perfectly once Metal Sonic II is put into play.
A gleam from the corner of the room indicated that there was something hooked up to many wires. Cold, blue steel shone by the dim lighting. The head was tilted downwards, followed by a sharp cone pointing down at the floor. Streams of wires flowed from the back of the cranium, to the base of the internal engine core. Some could tell that there was a definite improvement of weaponry this robot has as for an all-new arsenal to date. Monitor systems indicated the range of systems within; tracking systems, heat signature indicators, battle system, automated lock-on devices for certain attacks, partial Artificial intelligence, and so on.
"Yes, my Metal Sonic II. You will unfold every inch of my plan. You will make my dream of world conquest come true…."