As Shadow arrived at the base, the Chaos Emerald fell out of his hand, which now flew up to his chest. He fell over in pain, screaming loudly. He choked as blood dripped down his lips.
Dr. Eggman merely watched. "Please…" Shadow moaned, "Help… me…"
Dr. Eggman made no attempt to save him, "You are of no use to me. I have no reason to save you. Besides, my efforts would only delay the inevitable."
"Y-you knew… you knew I wasn't… stable… Ugh!" Shadow yelped out in pain again.
"Yes, I knew. You have done what I needed. You retrieved the Chaos Emeralds as planned. Nothing can stop me now!"
Then, as all seemed lost, a grin spread over Shadow's face. Then, he burst into laughter. Dr. Eggman fumed, "What do you find funny? You are to die and I know there is nothing to stop it!"
"I'm laughing… because he's coming. I feel his presence."
At first, Dr. Eggman was swept with confusion, until a thought zipped across his mind, "No! How could he know!" Dr. Eggman pounded the table beside him. He knew whom Shadow spoke of. Sonic The Hedgehog.
Then, as if on command, Sonic and Tails burst through the wall on the left.
"Eggman!" Sonic yelled.
"Eep! Oh! Sonic! Uh... What are you doing here?"
"You know why! You stop what you're doing right now!" Tails yelled. Then, he looked over at Shadow, how was now lying on the ground, slowly fading away.
"Shadow…" Sonic said quietly, then he looked back to Eggman, "What'd you do?"
Eggman let out an evil cackle; "I have done nothing! He was doomed before the start. His cells were damaged in the fall to earth, and now, it is too late to repair! The power of the Chaos Emeralds delayed his departure, but as soon as I take the emeralds away, he will be no more!"
Sonic then did something no one had expected. He took a chance and leaped over to where Shadow had set the seven Chaos Emeralds upon returning. Eggman froze as Sonic's hand went in contact with the gems.
"You may have the gems," Eggman said, "But you don't have time to use them!"
"Maybe I don't…" Sonic then tossed the emeralds behind him, "But Shadow does!"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" Eggman yelled, but it was too late, for him! Shadow, with his last ounce of strength, he touched one of the Chaos Emeralds. A power surged through him as he stood up.
"That's it! I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice!" Eggman then opened a box on the wall and pulled the lever inside.
"In a matter of one hour, the entire planet will be blown to pieces. If I can't rule the world, no one can!"
The expressions on the heroes' faces were horrified. They all looked at one another, then at the emeralds.
"I got it!" Tails yelled as a siren filled the room, warning of the base self-destruction, "You two go in super form to track the bomb, and when we find it, I'll disarm it!"
Eggman's maniacal laughter rang again. "You think it's that simple? The bomb is nuclear, and the only way to disarm it is to enter the bomb itself!"
Sonic ran at him, "You idiot! If you destroy the earth, no more life will exist anywhere!"
Eggman thought of that a minute, "Oops…"
Shadow slapped his head; "We have to hurry!"
Minutes later, they were set. Realizing his mistake, Eggman saved them time by telling them the bomb was in an Egyptian pyramid that had forever been empty. In return, they had to promise to only to throw him in prison, no death sentence. They agreed and went to work.
In super form, Sonic and Shadow took Tails off to try and disarm the bomb. They don't know how their bodies would react to nuclear radiation, but they had no choice. As they entered Egypt, they spotted the pyramid.
"This is it!" Super Sonic yelled, "We have to hurry!"
"Right!" Tails agreed.
Super Shadow ran off to the pyramid full-speed, blasting a hole in the side, where a metal box containing millions of W.M.D. (Weapons of Mass Destruction) They ran up to it and looked for the entrance. After finding it, came the hard part.
"Tails… we're counting on you," Shadow said gravely. Tails nodded.
"You be okay in there, buddy. If you start to feel woozy, you wave and we'll take you out for a breather, got it?"
Again, Tails nodded. He faced the door and took a deep breath. Then, he ran in to what may be his doom.
Tails looked around. He felt a wave of energy surge through him. His eyes felt like they were on fire, but he had to save the world and that couldn't make him back down now.
He then noticed a switch. He reached to touch it; it seemed to be able to pump air into the room. Tails swayed. It felt as thought he were swimming in a tub of gelatin. But he had to do this, for the entire planet. Ignoring the unreachable switch, he saw probably the easiest thing to do. An off-switch.
Tails thought a minute. It seemed to easy, but what's he got to lose? He's already done-for obviously. He took in a deep breath of radiated air. He couldn't hold his breath forever.
Then it happened. Tails felt sick. He bent over, it felt like he could explode right there. He leaned on something to stand himself up. What luck, it was the switch needed to detonate the bomb, and with almost no time to spare.
As Sonic and Shadow watched the counter fade away, they looked into the room to see how Tails was. Noticing no movement, they burst in and grabbed Tails, pulling him far away to get the fullest air supply possible.
Tails coughed. His eyes were glowing an odd green color and his entire body was twitching. Sonic set his hand by his throat to check a pulse. It was fading away fast.
Sonic knew what Shadow was about to say, and he didn't want to admit it himself. "Tails is in pain… There's no point keeping him alive."
"No!" Sonic cried, pounding his fist on the sand, "I don't want to do this again! I don't want to have more of his blood on my hands!"
"Sonic, you must understand. These things happen. It's not anyone's fault, fate just decided it."
Sonic was about to admit defeat when Tails eyes moved. Shadow leaped back in fright.
"T-tails?"
Tails then sat up. Despite the fading pulse and the extreme amount of radiation in his body, he seemed fine, "Did I stop it?"
"Tails! You're okay! And… all glowing…" Sonic said confused.
"Huh? What the…?" Tails exclaimed, noticing something else, "You guys! I can't breathe!"
Shadow stared at him, "Yet you can talk… does it hurt?"
"No… That's what's weird…"
"I think that radiation is what's still keeping you alive. I think I know how to drive it out, too."
"How?" Sonic and Tails echoed.
"Well, I'm not in super form or holding a Chaos Emerald, but I'm still standing here, aren't I?"
Then Sonic understood, "So, by going into super form, you automatically heal yourself,"
"But I can't go into super form, remember?"
Sonic stared down, "That's right. When we first met Knuckles, it was around that time we found that Tails can only go super using the Super Emeralds!"
Tails lurched over. Suddenly, he didn't feel so good.
"Tails?" Sonic walked over and put his hand on his shoulder.
"My stomach…. It hurts…"
"We'd better get him to a specialist,"
Shadow thought a minute, "Well, I believe I over heard Eggman talking about something like this happening. He owes us, so maybe…"
Sonic finished, "So maybe he has something to help us with!"
The two picked up Tails and carried him off to Eggman's fortress. There, they found Eggman, caged up by one of his own robots.
"Traitors…" Eggman mumbled.
"Huh?" Sonic and Shadow said at once.
"Eggmanlosthismarbles. Wehadnochoicebuttolockhimup!"
"Well, we have some business with you Eggman! You owe us, so, do you have anything that can counteract radiation?"
Eggman looked at Tails, whose body was having tremors from the nuclear energy rushing through his body.
"Yes, but why should I owe you?"
"Because you did this to him, and if you help us, you won't be executed."
Eggman thought it over and instructed them to set Tails' body on a platform. He told them which buttons to press.
"We only have one problem… If we extract the waste, there's a chance his body is much too unstable and he could die in the process. But it's either that or living in a machine the remainder of his life."
"It'll be okay Tails…" Sonic told him as he helped him into the machine. Tails was only semiconscious.
Within a matter of minutes, Tails leaped out of the machine, a breath of fresh air entering his lungs, "Much better!"
All three looked at Eggman, who seemed to be silently going crazy. All three exchanged glances, and the jumped at him, tying him up in a twisted robot's arm.
"Hey! You promised! No prison!" He yelled in protest.
"Actually, you're being hauled off to the funny farm, not jail," Tails corrected.
As the men in white lab coats toted him away, a blank expression crossed Eggman's face, which then went into a maniacal grin.
"So… that's it! I've gone off my rocker!"
"Yep, you sure have," One of the men agreed, "Don't worry, you'll be okay from now on, in your nice soft room."
The three burst into laughter as the medical car drove off.
"I always knew he'd lost it!" Sonic giggled.
"I don't think he ever had it!" Shadow chuckled.
"Well, he's gone…. Now what?" Tails said.
"I don't know… I guess… we say good-bye…" Shadow said after awhile.
They all gazed down. Without Eggman, what would they do now? So, all three waved as Sonic and Tails took off for home, and Shadow, took off to find his own place on earth.
The End
Not!
In Memory of Eggman
Who Has Finally
Found his true Calling
In Life
THE FUNNY FARM!
We always knew his end would include the Men in White Coats
Wishes are Eternal