Disclaimer: I don't own...ah, you know already...
A shadowy figure walked through the dark corridors of the ARK, pausing every now and then to listen for signs of movement. It crept on. Suddenly it's ears pricked up. It looked around, but all turned to darkness.
The Egg Carrier plowed through the asteroid field in front of the ARK, heading toward the docking area near the cannon. Tails moved it slowly through the opening and set it down. They all climbed out and headed through the small door nearby into a corridor.
They ran down the corridor, but almost tripped on something dark and furry.
"What the..." Sonic muttered as he made to turn whatever it was over. Then suddenly he recoiled as the form started to stir. It stood up and Shadow the Hedgehog turned to face them.
"S-Sha...dow?!?" Sonic managed to say as he took a step backward. "B-but, how? You're supposed to be dead! I saw you burn up in the Earth's atmosphere!"
Shadow shook his head slowly. "No, that was a clone. I've actually cloned myself numerous times. The first time on Prison Island, to get the Chaos Emeralds. The second time was to race you to the core and stop you, but you apparently killed it. The third time was with the fight with the Biolizard. You actually saw my clone getting burned up, not me.
"But how did you clone yourself?" Sonic asked, getting over the shock.
"There was a room used for advanced scientific methods for Professor Gerald and his fellow scientists to experiment on life more thoroughly. There was a cloning machine inside of it," Shadow said, gesturing with his head down the corridor.
Sonic nodded, thoroughly confused, but obviously understanding. "Well, we have to hurry and catch that black echidna! He's going to use the Chaos Emeralds to destroy Earth!"
The others nodded in agreement and the group ran down corridors and flights of steps. Soon, they reached the strange liquid which Sonic slid down in to get to the core. They jumped onto it and started sliding down until they got to the bottom and landed on the circular rock. In the distance, was the black echidna, standing in the middle of the artificial shrine, with the Chaos Emeralds on the pedestals.
"So!" It said loudly for them to hear. "You've actually made it! I didn't think you would be able to come up here! Oh well, now that you're here, you'll be able to witness the Earth's death, along with yours once I blow up the colony!" It held up it's spiky-gloved hand, which a dark aura suddenly appeared from it. The Chaos Emeralds lifted off their pedestals and glided toward the echidna.
"Finally, after all these years, the Chaos Emeralds are mine once again! Everyone will fear my name, Mazneon!" He let out an evil laugh, which echoed throughout the dank cavern. "I think it would be nice to meet an old friend of yours," it chuckled, as the Chaos Emeralds started glowing spinning faster and faster until they were blurs of light. Suddenly, a heart-stopping roar was heard and the Biolizard appeared from a bright light.
"Have fun!" Mazneon said sneering. He suddenly disappeared into a blinding white light.
Not this again!" Sonic moaned.
"Come on Sonic, we have to defeat this thing now! The Earth is going to be destroyed if we don't defeat it now!" Shadow said looking at Sonic. Sonic nodded his head.
"Guys, stay back. It's too dangerous. Yes, you too Knuckles," said Sonic as Knuckles was about to protest. Sonic and Shadow looked at each other and nodded. They ran towards the Biolizard, narrowly missing a swing from it's long tail. Shadow dodged the Biolizard's mouth as it attempted to crunch his bones and started grinding the pipe attached to the Biolizard's mouth and started to mercilessly do Homing Attacks on the life support system. The Biolizard roared in pain and started moving around awkwardly trying to get Shadow off, but to no avail. Sonic soon joined Shadow by running up the side of the Biolizard and also attacked the system. Suddenly, the life support system sent a current through itself and the Biolizard, also shocking Sonic and Shadow, which threw them across the room near the group. The Biolizard sent one more roar of pain and fury before the life support system exploded, killing the beast instantly.
Suddenly, the whole of the space colony started to shake. Pieces of the wall and ceiling fell and hit the ground.
"Hurry! We've got to get out of here!" Tails said, backing into the wall.
"Hold on a sec!" Knuckles growled as he punched the wall in front of them, crumbling it to reveal a part of a corridor below. They jumped down into it and ran down it and, miraculously, they found the hangar containing the Egg Carrier. All of them went into the cockpit and Tails hurriedly switched on the ship. He backed out of the hangar and shot off back to Earth. Sonic looked back to see the ARK, explosions riddling it. Suddenly, it exploded, sending a shockwave which rumbled the Egg Carrier a bit, then resided.
"Phew! That was close," Tails said, leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes.
"Not for long!" Amy shouted pointing out the window to see debris heading straight towards them. Tails quickly grabbed the controls and dodged the debris skillfully.
"It looks like most of the debris will land in the ocean, so not much harm done," Tails said looking out of the window to see the debris falling towards the ocean.
"Alright, but more importantly, we have to stop that Mazne-whoever from destroying Earth!" Sonic said, looking at everyone.
"Right!" Everyone said simultaneously as the Egg Carrier made it's way to North America.