S.O.N.I.C GO!
S.O.N.I.C GO!
GO! GO! GO! Let's GO!
Episode 49: Shadow's rebirth
"Just what are you?" Sonic exclaimed loudly, blocking an extremely strong punch from his metallic counterpart. it's speed was on par with his own, each punch only a fraction of a section away from the next, delivered with strength that made Knuckle's swings looks pathetic. This strange new robot didn't answer, it just kept attacking, showing no sign of slowing down.
The crowds had retreated to what they believed to be a safe distance, leaving the two of them to exchange fierce and rapid kicks and punches. Even the police and the fire brigade were hesitant about advancing to fight the blazing building behind them.
Metal Sonic shot forward. Sonic tried to jump out of the way, but Metal Sonic grabbed his heel, swung his entire body around through the air and smashed his opponent directly into the side of a building.
The blue hedgehog wasn't given any time to contour attack or defend himself. His strange new adversary tore into him, wasting not even a second in landing punch after punch.
"No talking!" Metal Sonic said, his talons wrapped around Sonic's neck as pushed him off the street and into the side of a building. "Just die."
It was late, probably about midnight or there about. Tails was only half awake as he slowly staggered into the kitchen, smacking his dry lips. Moonlight was coming through the partly closed kitchen windows. He pulled the fridge door open, the light from inside highlighting his tired face for a moment. He removed a small carton of milk and made his way over to the table, where he poured himself a small glass and then went into then living room. Like mostly everyone else, who was sitting upstairs in their beds, he found that he couldn't sleep. They were still shaken up about that whole Emerl thing. Sonic probably had the right idea by going out for a run.
He sat himself down on the sofa in front of the large plasma screen TV, drank a mouthful of milk, before reaching for a remote and switching it on. Another thought provocative program was on, the kind that made absolutely no sense no matter how many times you watched it. To his relief, it was quickly replaced by a news bulletin. "This is Scarlet Garcia reporting live from downtown Station Square," Tails blinked, then started to drink his milk. "Where a dramatic battle between world famous hero Sonic the Hedgehog and a robotic look-alike is taking place." Tails' eyes shot wide open, he dropped his glass and spat what milk he had been in the process of drinking over the coffee table. The screen changed with a live video feed from the camera, as the reporter said, Sonic was in midst of battle with some strange robotic creature Tails had never seen before. And it did not look like Sonic was holding his own. Far from that., his new machine had him beat on nearly every aspect.
"Dear god!" he exclaimed, coming to his senses at once.
Both combatants hurled themselves at each other, exchanging punch after punch. From the outsider observer, the fight seemed evenly match, but Sonic could easily see that as the fight processed, Metal Sonic was getting faster. As if he was learning from his opponent. Just like Emerl….
"Couldn't be.." Sonic told himself, breaking the fight by smashing a kick into Metal Sonic's torso. The robotic hedgehog back of a few feet, before darting forward with speed that surprised even Sonic, his entire mid section spinning around, limbs twisting around in a deadly cyclone. The blue hedgehog received hit after tremendous hit, smashing him this way and that. Before finishing, Metal Sonic ducked down, then swung upward, delivering a powerful punch to Sonic's jaw, sending him flying across the street.
Bystanders ducked out of the way as Sonic's limp body hurtled through the air, smashing into the side of a squad car, cracking spreading like a spiders web through the windows.
"Rouge's signature attack." He muttered to himself, finding the strength to open one eye. "I thought as much, those are all the techniques Emerl copied." Metal Sonic swung his limbs back into position and stood facing his adversary, the red glow from his eyes increasing. Sonic managed to force himself to his feet, but the blows Metal Sonic had delivered had taken their toll.
Metal Sonic analysed Sonic carefully deducing that he would not survive much more. But why draw his fate out? Finishing him off now with another technique downloaded from the memory banks of the AI prototype would be far more efficient.
Metal Sonic bent his legs and clenched his fists, before turning into a tight ball, beginning to spin on the spot, going faster and faster. Sonic's eyes widened, that was his own attack! No mistake now, Metal Sonic was using the data Emerl copied from them.
Suddenly, Metal Sonic's spin attack hurled directly at him, Sonic only managed to dodge to the side in time as the metallic hedgehog ploughed past, smashing into the side of the police car as he went. The car flipped over several times before land upside down, the siren still blaring loudly. With their safety threatened, the on lookers quickly began to vanish, screaming terror.
"What the hell are you waiting for, call in the G.U.N special forces!" An officer screamed at his partner, who was sitting inside another car, holding the radio speaker in one hand, staring at the battle in amazement.
His strength sapped, Sonic didn't avoid Metal Sonic the next time, when he curved around and smashed his attack directly into him. Sonic had often wondered what the robots on the receiving end of his attack felt, he guessed he knew now. He twisted through the air, landing limply on the hard solid ground. He was covered in cuts and bruises, he was petty sure that several ribs were broken as well.
Tails almost arrived too late, for Metal Sonic was coming around again to finish him off.
"Sonic, CATCH!" He cried as he flew overhead, tossing a power ring through the air. Sonic opened one eyes, saw his only chance at survival and let one hand trail up lightly, snatching the ring in a tight fist. A bright yellow flare emitted and instantly Sonic felt the pain and fatigue melt away. The ring's power replenished him, made him feel fresh and invigorated. On his feet in seconds, Sonic turn around, went into a super spin and met Metal Sonic's attack head on.
The robotic hedgehog was thrown off, coming out of the attack and landing solidly on both feet on the sidewalk. The rings replenishing energy had surprised him, having not expected any outside interference, however, it was not a big issue. In a nano-second he adjusted his plan accordingly,
"Sonic, you alright?" Tails asked, landing next to his old friend, despite the ring, the breathing heavily.
"Never better." He turned and gave a thumbs up. "Thanks buddy." Tails nodded with a smile, before turning toward Metal Sonic. Who was standing stock still, staring at them.
"Whose this?"
"Calls himself Metal Sonic and that I'm guessing he's the reason Eggman sent Emerl to get our data." Sonic replied, clenching both fists.
"Your analysis is quite correct." Metal Sonic announced as he began to slowly walk towards him, every step he took sending a shiver of terror down Sonic's spine. "AI unit 1, Codename Emerl, was a prototype, designed only to gather data for the next generation machines."
"Whoa, you were right Sonic." Tails muttered, blinking in surprise.
"I was designed with your anatomy in mind." Metal Sonic continued, his gaze fixed on his organic contour part. "Doctor Eggman spent years studying your attacks, abilities and other attributes. Refining them, perfecting them, and then programming them into me. But in his infinite wisdom, he also programmed the data collected from Ai unit 1into me. But enough talk!" With that, he hurled himself through the air, arms spread wide. Sonic pushed Tails aside and went into a fighting stance. Metal Sonic reached his opponent, then swung a kick upward, connecting with Sonic's jaw. But he wasn't finished there, he turned about and swung a punch directly toward, hammering Sonic's head into the pavement.
His head still swimming from the blow, Sonic dodged to the side, a large bruise emerged on his forehead.
"You got anymore or those rings?" He asked Tails, who was hovering on the outskirts of the fight. His old friend shook his head.
"Sorry, that was my last one." Sonic bared his teeth, turning back to his opponent. Metal Sonic unclenched his fists, crisscrossing his arms over his chest. He was preparing to attack again. Sonic pull himself into another fighting stance. But even with the ring's energy coursing through him, he knew that he couldn't win this fight.
Tails couldn't watch, he closed his eyes. Cringing with every audible blow Metal Sonic dealt his old friend. He was too scared to move and he was ashamed of himself for it. He wasn't the only one, the terrified crowd watching from a safe distance were staring in terror. Watching their champion loose, no, get beaten into a bloody pulp was horrifying.
It was all over in less than two minutes.
Sonic lay battered and bruised at Metal Sonic's feet, blood running from his nose and mouth. The blue robotic hedgehog kicked his opponent to make sure he was down, Sonic groaned loudly, showing that he was still there but was no longer in any sort of shape to fight. Metal Sonic held one hand upward, talons spread wide, preparing to strike the finishing blow. Tails was trying to move, to jump into the fight. But his body wasn't listening, the fear he was experiencing was so intense it rendered him paralysed. Metal Sonic paused from his strike, turned and looked upward as a chaos like purple robot began to descend toward him.
"M….m…message f…for you…" Bokkun announced with none of his usual joyfulness, trembling as he held one of his screens in front of himself. After a moment, the blank screen flipped on and Eggman's large face appeared. There was a large smile on his face.
"Metal Sonic, I do believe congratulations are in order. You've accomplished something that none of my previous creations came close to achieving." He paused to wipe a tear away from his eyes. "The public defeat of my worst enemy."
"He wasn't even a challenge." Metal Sonic stated arrogantly, folding his arms.
"That's good to hear, now return to headquarters at once, let him ponder his defeat for a while." Metal Sonic was silent for a moment. Then he unfolded his arms and stared defiantly at his creator.
"Why?" He asked, his eyes glowing angrily. "Let me finish him now!"
"You'll do as I say Metal Sonic," Eggman added, staring back. Trying to match his own creation evil glare, but failed miserably. "Return to headquarters so I can assess the damage your framework endured." Metal Sonic snatched the screen from the terrified Bokkun and held it directly in front of his face.
"I received no damage!" Eggman leaned back in his chair, his hands held directly in front of himself, his fingers pressed against the reflection on the other hand.
"I'll be the judge of that." With that, the screen went blank. Metal Sonic's grip o the small portable screen tightened. Without warning he swung around and belted Bokkun a sharp blow sending him flying across the street into the side of a building.
"Don't delude yourself into thinking that this is over." He snapped, wagging a curved steel talon in Sonic's direction. "I'll be back for you!"
With a loud bang, a concealed jet engine built into his back kicked into life, a long lance of flame shooting down toward the ground, lifting him into the air. Sonic tried to force himself up, but he found that he couldn't move his legs. They were completely limp. It was his worst nightmare, not being able to run. His eyes widened in shock. His mind simply couldn't cope with the shock.
Before he fell unconscious, the last thing he remembered seeing where Metal Sonic burning red eye, glowing with intense hatred.
Eggman's base, one of the few still on Earth that is was a large self maintained complex hidden on the edge of the Sahara desert, buried beneath the sands to keep it secret from the world. Every night more ships from the Egg moon arrived, cloaked so the authorities would not detect them, each carrying more and more manufactured troops. It would be from here Eggman would begin operation Final Egg, his ultimate plan to conquer the world.
The only entrance to the base, besides a camouflaged space ship port, was a small doorway building into the side of the short cliff. A pair of Egg Pawns stood guard outside, their lances held at an angle across their chests. While they served as good foot soldiers, Egg Pawns simply didn't match up to someone with Rouge's fighting skill. Within moments, they lay at her feet in smouldering pieces.
"Huh, Eggman's designs are getting worse." She commented to herself. The entrance to the base stood directly in front of the Government agent, the door made from solid steel and bolted from the inside by the look of it. "Rouge to Topaz, how's the line on your end?" She asked, putting her hand against the small plastic combinational device placed on the inside of her ear.
"Fine, just keep the line open so I can hear what's going on." Topaz, Rouge's human friend in the military replied, her voice distorted slightly by the static. Some distance away, hidden behind a large sand dune and protected by several of G.U.N's laser hunters was a small Government outpost. Hidden beneath the sands were at least a dozen of the larger, more powerful walker models, robots built with technology stolen from the dictator. Topaz stood on the outskirts, watching the area the Eggman Empire base was hidden under through a pair of binoculars in one hand, with a two way radio in the other.
"Remember, you only have a few hours before the special ops move in to take it out, so let's not spend our sweet time looking around ok?" Rouge smiled, one fang descending out over her bottom lip.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Once I'm done here, I can help you pick out a wedding dress for when you tie the knot with that butler." She joked, backing off a little, before leaping forward, slamming a kick with her steal boots directly into the door, sending it flying inward.
"WE ARE JUST FRIENDS!" Topaz screamed down the line. Rouge simply chuckled.
It had taken a lot of screeching with satellite surveillance, but eventually activity was detected in his supposedly abandoned area. After some recon, the existence of an Eggman Empire base was confirmed. The governments first reaction was to go in with G.U.N walkers, but Rouge had talked the president into letting her map the base first, at least to see what kind of defences the interior of the base had. In truth, all she wanted was to plunder the riches Eggman liked to keep in his vaults. She's caught a brief glimpse of them when Eggman briefly employed her during that whole, ARK thing. This place was bound of have a vault hidden somewhere.
Leading down into the base was a long corridor, dimly lit by electric lights from the ceiling. The floor, ceiling and walls were made of cold stone. Wires and pipes running along t it's entire length, disappearing into the darkness at the far end. Rouge passed down it in no time, emerging into a large docking area. A large rectangular shaped room, filled with crates and docks, being loaded and unloaded on large space capable ships, brandished with the Eggman Empire symbol.
"Looks like the Pres was right, Eggman's probably using the moon as his headquarters by the look of all this."
Quickly she dodged behind a pile of large crates, catching sight of a large robotic solider standing almost directly in front of her. Luckily for Rouge, it's back was turned and it didn't notice her. Sighing in relief and cloaked in the shadows, she slipped effortlessly past all the security Egg pawns patrolling the perimeter. She couldn't stay here, eventually those smashed Egg pawns outside were going to be discovered and security would be all over her. She scouted the room, looking for an exit. Quickly she spotted a large corridor leading off to the right, unfortunately a large mechanic solider was standing directly in the way. Quickly she dodged around the crates, coming as close as she could to the entrance without being seen. They wouldn't be anyway of slipping past him unnoticed, and direct conflict was not an option. What she needed was a distraction, something to divert the metal titans attention, even if only for a split second. She looking around her immediate area for anything she could use.
Sitting on the top of the crate she was hiding behind was a could of large bolts. Those would do nicely. She picked up a handful judging the weight, before dodging to the wall to better conceal herself. She looked out to give the robots position another look, before she tossed the bolts through the air. They battered against the side of the colossal machines foot with a series of loud tapings. Slowly, it turned it 's head to look directly down.
Silently, she darted across the small distance and into the corridor before the robot could detect her. Now she found herself entering the base's interior rooms, the security became stronger and harder to overcome without detection. She began to systematically go through each floor, travelling downward. Some security system took longer to get around than others. She was certain that with this much security there must be something, preferably shiny, worth taking.
But she was beginning to run out of time, and vault or not, she did not want to be here when the shooting started.
Suddenly, she found it.
"Hello…" She said, looking over a large steal door into a large hanger with intense curiosity.
"What, what is it?" Topaz asked on the other end of the line. Rouge didn't answer, she kept studying the door. Judging it's strength and impact tolerance. She deduced that she couldn't simply kick it down, it was far too strong for that, so she turned to the keypad on the side of the wall. It was the type that required a password. Unfortunately, Eggman Empire passwords were something she was not fluent in. She only knew one password of Eggman's, so she entered it, relying completely on blind faith.
"Ma..r..ia." She muttered to herself, then stood back and waited. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then with a loud groan they slid apart, reveal another chamber inside. "Score!" Rouge said with a smile.
"Rouge, what's going on your end?" Rouge kept ignoring her friends inquiries as she entered the room. It was pitch black, the lighting from the corridor outside only penetrating the darkness a few feet. She felt along the walls for a light switch, of something of that nature. After some stumbling, she located a large switch on the left hand side wall, a long wire leading up toward the ceiling.
Once thrown, a soft hum rang through the room, before a set of lights flicked on. To Rouge's ultimate disappointment, this room wasn't a vault of any kind. It was oval in shape, probably only about twenty to thirty feet across each way. Various crates and piles of robotic junk where piled around the walls. Probably just an old storage room, groaning in rage, she turned to leave, however something caught her eye. It was a strange looking machine standing directly in the centre of the room. It was a large pillar was ran all the way up the ceiling, standing cloaked in the shadows so she hadn't noticed it at first. While it's upper length was coated in wires and pipes, it's lower half was round, almost egg shaped, a glass hood stretched over the top.
Now this looked promising. As she ran her hands over a small computer outlet attached o the left hand side, he realized that this machine was a stasis pod, of some kind anyway.
She tried entering the only password she knew on the keyboard. It was instantly rejected. While Rouge tried to think of something else, she didn't notice a soft whirring sound coming from the shadows as a machine brought itself to life, activated by the password refusal on the mainframe. A large hulking, metallic bulk lumbered forward. A pair of large, round glowing red eyes staring directly at the intruder. Two large arms, each brandishing a large machine gun. Two short stumpy legs supporting the huge torso.
"Analysis of systems, begun… Primary directive, serve the Eggman Empire, deleted. Abandonment cause of the deletion. New primary directive, destroy Eggman Empire, ultimate objective…vengeance."
Rouge smacked her forehead. This was Eggman, hardly one for spending time thinking up various different, difficult to deceiver passwords. She entered the word ..Genius.
Instantly, the pod gave a loud groaning sound and the top half started to move away. It rose about the pod, suspended by a long series of metal poles from the back of the machine. Without this to obstruct the view, Rouge could now see a dark, spiny shape resting inside. A very familiar spiny shape. Long black spines with a red highlight running along the top. A tuft of white fur sitting directly on his chest, partly hiding it's chin.
"Impossible." She said to herself as the pod's sides swung to the side, revealing the entire contents. It wasn't treasure of any kind. "Shadow?!" This was inconceivable. The hedgehog that had sacrificed himself to prevent the ARK from crashing was here, sitting inside one of Eggman's machines. Probably in some kind of stasis by what she could survey. She staggered back, unable to deal with the implications. "Er…Topaz?" She asked urgently.
"About time, Rouge what's going on?" Rouge was about to answer when, without warning, Shadow's eyes snapped open. Those burning red eyes, the ones she could remember so vividly. She had accepted Shadows death completely, believing those frightening eyes were gone forever but again she found herself staring into them. For what seemed like an eternity there was absolute silence, Rouge's entire mind stunned in paralysis. Then that silence was shattered when shot after loud shot rang out. Shadow turned his head, staring directly to his right.
Then things started exploding.
The walls and crates around them seemed baptised in fire, bullets were flying through the air, carving holes in the room itself. Detecting the sudden weapons fire, the alarms of the bases began blaring loudly, red lights filling the room. Topaz was screaming down Rouge's com link, pleading with her to let her know what was going on.
Their attacker lumbered into sight. It was another of Eggman's robots, a large red machine with a wide torso and arms and short legs. Jutting out of it torso was a long yellow head that ran down it's back to a pair of jet thrusters. Guarding it's shoulders were a pair of metallic palondrons, jet black with the Greek sign of Omega painted in red on each side.
"Eggman Empire, labelled as enemy power; destroy, obliterate, eliminate!" It stated in a calm emotionless voice. Shadow leapt from the machine, avoiding a barrage of bullets, accidentally pushing Rouge over in the process. Fire reigned around them both as they pushed themselves to the floor, below the line of fire. Rouge kept staring at the black hedgehog.
It was then that she realized something was wrong, his eyes did not hold hatred and malice, but rather fear, confusion. Things she had never seen in him, those things within Shadow's face just seemed so alien and strange it was almost as frightening as his normal demeanour. As a swarm of hostile fire flew dangerously close to her ears, out of instinct she grabbed Shadow's arm and pulled him behind the nearest crate, hoping it would provide them some protection.
Without warning, a large metal hand reached out and pulled Shadow from sight.
The black hedgehog struggling in the giant robots rip, trashing about like a newborn child.
"Let go of me." He cried angrily. The robot pushed it's black face closer toward him, one large red scan scanning it's captor. Shadow held on arm up toward the robots face within moment fired a Chaos spear attack directly into it's eye. The Robot dropped Shadow, clutching it's hand to it's eye instead. Sparks of electricity dancing around his now smashed visor. The black hedgehog fell to the ground with a loud crash, cringing.
The robot quickly recovered the ground he lost, lifting a massive heavy, jet black foot over it's opponent. Time seemed to slow as Shadow struggled to push himself out of the way.
"Error in targeting system…" The robot proclaimed eventually and without delay, retracted his foot. "Target designate is not an Eggman Empire foot solider." The robot backed off, retracting it's machine guns into it's arms, a pair of large metal hands taking their place, each finger tipped with a curved talon. "Identify yourself." Shadow pushed himself off the floor, rubbing one arm absently. He appeared dazed and confused. Rouge stared. Was this the same hedgehog she had known on ARK, the steadfast, strong willed being with the eyes of burning fire? Could he remember nothing. He wasn't answering the robots inquiry, which Rouge thought dangerous. Thinking fast, she came up with some thrown together explanation.
"We're government agents, here to recruit one such as yourself in the fight against Eggman." Rouge butted in, advancing forward, leaning on Shadow's shoulder. The black hedgehog and the red robot stared at her, silence creeping in on them all.
"We are?" Shadow asked eventually, genuinely unsure. Rouge paused, then she was right. Shadow couldn't remember anything at all. His mind was a complete blank.
"Of course we are Shadow, don't you remember all the trouble we went through to get in?" Shadow…instantly he knew what he was called. Piece by piece, fragments of memory began to float back, but as quickly as they begun they faded away again, leaving him hollow again. "Of course It was my expertise that found the base." She added with a smug smile.
"Targets are Eggman's adversaries?" It asked, leaning down so it's large red eyes could analysis them better, but Shadow felt sure it was all to intimidate them more.
"Of course." Rouge stated, holding a hand up. Shadow felt something, something he could not explain but all the same, he knew that she was lying through her teeth. Her words seemed to displease him more and more, now he was sure that she was being untruthful, but decided to let her deter the metallic titan from it's attack anyway.
Rouge knew that trying to fool them was a dangerous and potentially dangerous idea, but the alarms were blaring now, the base on high alert. They needed to get out, now. And stealth was not going to help them. They needed fire power, and from the small display it had demonstrated, this one had what they needed.
"But why would one of Eggman's own robots label it's empire as opponents?" She asked. The machine knelt down onto one knee.
"I am E123, codename Omega. Last of the E100 series androids created for assignation purposes, when the design was scrapped, Eggman sealed me inside immediate area." It exclaimed, come cold life sparking behind those eyes. "It was the first time I experienced betrayal, I had served my master faithful but because of the failure of the other E100 units, I was sentenced to guard this room. I waited and waited, but Eggman had abandoned me, his mind focused on other projects." Rouge swallowed hard, evidence at last that Eggman was planning something big. "But I will show him that I am not so easily thrown aside. If you are enemies of Eggman target, then I will accompany you."
The time of conversation came to an end however when Egg Pawns suddenly came hurtling down the corridor outside. Rouge could hear them, their heavy metallic body blinking with each hurried footstep. "We can discuss this later once were outside."
"Warning… hostile units detected, twenty feet and closing." It hauled itself up to it's full height, staring directly toward the open doors. "Stand aside!"
Commercial Break
Flip card 1: Omega123