(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO. LET'S GO!

(Previous on Sonic X)

"Hey nothing personal pal." The weasel said, raising a rifle, peering through it's lens. "I'm just doing a job." Without a single seconds hesitation he fired. Shadow easily dodged the projectile, but discovered too late that the weasel hadn't been aiming for him. The bullet fired contained a powerful sleeping gas that was released on impact, coating the air in a thick green smoke. Shadow gasped for air, his strength leaving him before his eyes grew heavy and he collapsed to the floor, asleep. The weasel had already attached a specialised gas mask to his face so when he jumped down to inspect his work, he remained unaffected. He gave Shadow's body a kick with his boot and then leaned down to check he was still alive. Noting the healthy pulse, he stood up again.

"This is Sniper to HQ. Mission accomplished. Target immobilised. Ready for e-vac." He said, putting two fingers to the side of his goggles, speaking into a concealed microphone. Almost immediately the sound of chopper blades began to fill the air. A search light lanced down from the sky a moment later, striking the weasel and the unconscious hedgehog. Swiftly, ropes carrying several men in swat uniform descended from above, quickly taking hold of Shadow limp body. Fang reached up, grasping the out reaching hand on one of them and was hoisted up as well.

"Target secure. Move out." One of the soldiers yelled over towards the pilots and the chopper quickly began to disappeared into the snow storm.

"You do good work Mr. Sniper." Arthur Falcon the Third, current head of Foundation operations stated through the video link as the weasel seated himself down, removing his gas mask and goggles, showing that his eyes had changed colour to an unnatural green. "I knew I could count on you."

"Just doing my job sir." The weasel replied with a wide smirk. "We'll have him back at headquarters within minutes. I'll personally be delivering him."

The Foundation Saga

Episode 13: The Laying of a Foundation.

The commercial Christmas season had officially begun, with toy commercials broadcast twenty four hours a day, thick snow falling from the sky and the streets of Station Square being strewn with multicoloured lights. It was still only late November, but no body, especially the big stores, seemed to care.

Sonic however was far too busy to be bothered with it all right now. Shadow had been missing for over two days now. Normally, Sonic would not worry. Shadow had been known to vanish for longer periods than that, it was just that he had seemed very anxious to get going with his own investigations. For him to vanish for this long didn't make any sense.

Metal Sonic and Tails had joined in the search with him. The robotic hedgehog was flying over the desert outside the city, trying to spot the black hedgehog from the air. Tails was asking around town if anyone had seen Shadow. Sonic was just doing what he did best. Running through the streets, keeping an eye open for anything that looked remotely like the Ultimate life form.

"Where the hell is he?" He asked himself, scratching the back of his head as he stood on the top of a tall building overlooking the main street into Station Square's shopping district. Amy was probably down there taking advantage of the early deals they had going on right now. He thought he'd spotted her a minute ago coming out of a department store, but it was only Chaotix. It seems Vector wanted to get as much of his shopping down now to avoid the big Christmas rush. There was a loud thumping sound and Sonic's robotic counter part landed next to him. "Any luck?" He asked. The robot hedgehog shook his head.

"Not a black and red Hedgehog for miles." Metal replied shaking his head. Sonic groaned, folding his arms. "Where do you think he's gone?"

"No idea." He replied, tapping his foot impatiently. "But If I find out he's just out checking out the Christmas deals, I'll kill him." They both looked up as it began to snow again. The sky quickly becoming completely blanketed by white petals. Even Sonic felt the chill in the air, which for him was unusual. He was supposed to be used this sort of thing. He'd been to far colder places with nothing on but his gloves and shoes. Metal Sonic read the air temperature. It was one degree colder than it was this morning. It was going to be a very cold winter that was for certain. They carried on together systematically searching the streets and as usual they met with failure.

"He can't have gone far." Metal Sonic stated as Sonic slid to a stop, the slippery surface nearly making him tip over the edge of a roof top. Sonic hated his kind of weather. It made running very difficult as his sneakers couldn't get a good grip, he was more of a summer person. "I've already scouted the desert, and it's doubtful he would have gone further than that."

"Hey Sonic." The blue hedgehog looked down over the side of the building to see a pair of orange tails, spinning around like the blade on a chopper, coming flying up.

"S'up Tails." He replied, altering his frown into a grin. "Any luck, did you find him?" The fox shrugged as he landed next to him, handing over a ring.

"Sort of." Sonic looked the ring over and recognised it at once. It was a black and gold wrist band with a red patch at the front. Shadow wore one of each around his wrist. "I found it half buried in the snow over by the abandoned side of town. The falling snow had nearly covered all the tracks, but by the looks of it, Shadow was being chased by something." The three of them stood there in silence for a moment before Sonic clenched a wrist around the wrist band. "I think he's been kidnapped." Sonic paused, his expression nearly unreadable before it melted and he shrugged.

"Then I guess we'll just have to rescue him, goodness knows what that'll do to his ego though." Tails and Metal Sonic gave the blue hedgehog a long stare.

"Look who's talking." They said together.

His great battleship, the Egg Carrier 3 damaged nearly beyond repair, Eggman had been forced to lay low. Hidden deep within the thick rainforests of south America, the giant battleship, it's many scars still apparent lay stern underneath covering of false canopy. Eggman simply refused to retreat back to Final Egg. His pride would not permit it.

He had lost his great miniature Eclipse cannon, Emerl, and three Chaos emeralds. To say that he was upset, would be putting it lightly. He was in a white hot rage, punching anything that came within several feet of him. Decoe and Before wisely kept outside of that radius.

"Wait until I get this ship up and running again." The would be dictator snarled, flaming another fist into the punching bag. "Then I'll show them who's in charge!" None of his robots did a thing to try and calm him down. In fact, taking his frustrations out on something might actually give him some badly needed exercise. One last punch and Eggman paused to catch his breath. Feeling a little better, he reached for his jacket that he'd left on the table next to him. Emerl's attempt at stopping him would not prevent his conquest of the world. The Eggman Empire would spread to control the entire planet, it was inevitable. "Report." He added sharply, hardly turning his head to acknowledge Decoe's presence as the robot cowered in the doorway.

"Weapons and propulsion are down. It'll take another two months to get them operations again after the beating we took." Suddenly Eggman felt like hitting something again. "Luckily are defences are still one hundred percent operational, so we can repeal any attack if we're discovered." The doctor hadn't been listening to that last part. He was still replaying the last few moments he had to enjoy the raw power of his cannon, before that traitorous machine Emerl self detonated inside it, blowing it and half his ship into oblivion.

Standing inside the core of the cannon, Emerl could see the giant needle gathering energy and preparing to fire. Purple bolts of lighting dancing from the needle to the outside wall and back again. All so Dr. Eggman could control him. He would not allow that. He was free now, and he was going to make sure that his freedom did not come at the cost of his friend's life. With three Chaos emeralds inside him, the blast he could create would be more than enough to end this. Turning inwards, his began the countdown, setting it at a delay of ten seconds.

During that time, he marched down the service catwalk towards the very heart of Eggman's weapon. He knew that the Doctor would not be able to produce another of this weapon when it was destroyed. The technology was far too complex to duplicate more than once. And for some reason, that thought made him feel satisfied. He could feel it coming on now, the energy gathering inside his body, reaching critical levels. His metal frame couldn't contain it anymore and parts of it began to break off, large streams of light lancing out of the wounds. His entire body glowing a bright red that was steadily increasing.

Only several seconds left. Emerl looked back one last time towards the X-Tornado in the distance that carried his friend. One second left, he crossed his arms and then shot a contempt full glare upwards the cannon, his body burning with white hot uncontrollable chaos energy. And then, it happened.

Cream looked back from the X-tornado to see the front of the Egg Carrier explode in a fire storm. Both doors that covered the cannon was blow completely off by the blast, the giant metal pieces falling to the ground in flames. Thousands of robots that formed the crew of the ship were thrown out from the giant wound, falling like metal rain.

The entire ship shook violently. As the back feed through the cannon systems destroyed most of the weapons interior, the shock wave from the explosion reached the plane, learning making Tails loose control of it. The three Chaos Emeralds, now free from Emerl's body, were flung through the air, hurtling like asteroids through the atmosphere. All heading in an opposite direction from each other, disappearing on the horizon with a loud sonic boom.

As the chain reaction shot back through the Egg Carrier, one of it's wings that was tucked at it's side was thrown clear off, landing on the ground with a deafeningly loud thud on the swamp ground below, sinking nearly completely. It's balance upset, the Egg Carrier seemed to lurch to one side, looking like it was going to tip over and crash into the ground at any point.

Eggman was going to make sure nothing like that every happened again. Next time he was going to take more precautions, to ensure that no one, NO ONE, would so much as dent the surface of his artists masterpieces.

Shadow groaned and pushed his eyes open, finding it a chore. His vision blurred and it took a moment to adjust to the light. Shaking his head, his sight clarified and he was met with an unfamiliar face. It was human, with the eyes hidden behind a pair of thick black sunglass. The skin was a strange white with raven black hair set in a middle parting. Whoever he was, he was dressed with a very business like suit with a red tie and white shirt.

His memories flashed before him and suddenly Shadow remembered what had happened to him before he passed out. Frantically he tired to move, but found that his arms and legs were bound by metal restraints. Try as he might, he couldn't pry himself free. Chaos Control failed as well, something in this new environment was keeping him from accessing any sort of Chaos energy required for teleportation.

The human smiled as he watched Shadow squirm. The black hedgehog was now aware he was in some kind of large chamber, lit by braziers on the walls. Everything around him looked very Egyptian. The style of the walls and the six pillars that held up the huge, flat room. The walls were even lined with hieroglyphics and murals. Shadow then discovered that he and the human in front of him were on a large pyramid like structure directly in the middle of the chamber. All around them was a large crowd of people, there had to be at least two hundred of them, not counting those Shadow couldn't see towards the back. A dim glow of conversation filled the air. They all gathering in what looked like a very old finished looking market with makeshift stalls and roads.

Then Shadow noticed the ceiling and the symbol drawn directly above him on it. A Japanese Dragon, the old symbol of the Foundation.

"You may not understand now…" The human began, his accent was English. "But what happens to you now is not death, but rather completion of your destiny."

"I've just about had it with all that destiny crap!" Shadow snapped, a great deal of spittle hitting the human on the cheek. "Just who are you?" The human paused, reached into his breast pocket and took out a handkerchief. He wiped his cheek before speaking.

"At the moment I am Arthur Falcon the Third." Shadow paused.

"What do you mean, at the moment?" A thin, sadistic smiled crossed Arthur's face. It was the kind of smile that unnerved even Shadow.

"In the years gone by, I was know was Falcon the first and second. During the past few hundred years, I had to keep changing my name to ensure my place in society was not disturbed." Shadow stared at him with wide eyes, before narrowing them.

"Bull shit. No one apart from me can live that long."

"I'm afraid you're quite mistaken. You seen, I was born during the French revolution, to an aristocratic family. I would have died then and there during my infanthood at the hands of revolutionaries, had it not be for the divine mercy of my master." Shadow barred his teeth, still trying to free his arms. Even with his returning strength, the metal straps that encased his arms refused to budge. They were even blocking a Chaos Spear.

"Look pal, I don't know what psychiatric ward you escaped from, but just let me go before I hurt you."

"Oh don't worry. I shall let you go." Arthur turned to face the crowd at the base of the pyramid. "Right after the ceremony." Before Shadow could reply, the human began bellowing at the crowd in a deafening voice. "The time is now children of Krish. The vessel we create fifty years ago for our master, is once again in our hands!" The crowd cheered, some wielding touches in the air. Shadow blinked, trying to wake up from his bad dream. It was like he'd stepped into some low budget horror flick. "Within the hour, the time will be right and we shall have the honour of walking amongst the divine one." The cheers from the crowd intensified as Arthur turned back to face his captive. "Sorry for the interruption, had to keep them happy for the time being."

"Having me strapped to some bondage table makes them happy?" Shadow asked with wide eyes. "What have I ever done to you?" Arthur put his hands to his chin.

"It's not really what you've done. More like what your creator failed to do."

"What?" The human paused to look at his wrist watch.

"Well we do have time for a chat, so I suppose I can answer any questions you have before we have to begin.

You see, fifty years ago, genetic engineering reached the level I required to create a new body for my master to use. That had been his order to me for the last one hundred and fifty years. It was why I created the Foundation Organisation to begin with. It was to serve that one purpose.

The greatest biologist of the time was…"

"…Prof. Gerald Robotnik." Shadow said, completing the sentence for him in something of a daze. Arthur nodded.

"Yes, even today his work is unsurpassed. I mean, just look at you."

"Sir." The human looked back over his shoulder to see a purple weasel standing behind him to attention, his arm raised in salute. Shadow remembered now, this was the weasel who'd knocked him out. The mobians face the last thing he remembered before blacking out and waking up here.

"Ah Mr. Sniper. You've met Shadow I believe, wonderfully dependable chap. He wouldn't work for free of course, but I a quick trip inside his mind solved that problem." Arthur patted the weasel on the head. Fang didn't respond at all. He stood as still as a statue. "Well what is, I'm trying to have a discussion." Fang cleared his throat.

"We've had Government inspectors asking for permission to review our files. They may be onto us." Shadow knew were that was coming from. That was the end result of Chuck's attempts to persuade the Government to ask the Foundation Organisation some questions. Arthur simply shrugged, raising his eyebrows.

"Let them. In a hour, we won't have to bother with their interference. Now, if you don't mind, you're dismissed." Fang bowed and disappeared down the side of the pyramid. "Now where was I? Oh yes… Prof. Gerald, at the time, was based on the Space Colony ARK. A perfect isolated environment so his experiments would not be discovered. Secrecy, both on our part and on that of the Government, was essential. We expected him to be compliant, we did not foresee however…

"That he would have a conscience, that he would value his granddaughters life above the whims of any Earth bound power." Shadow added, snapping. Arthur stared him down.

"Putting it rather bluntly, but yes. Gerald was more interested in one insignificant life. Project Shadow was not going the way it was supposed to. So we cooked up some false reports to justify an invasion." Shadow stared him, his eyes wide, before they narrowed. Intense hate burning into them. Unequalled rage set into his features like stone.

"It…was…you!" He said, barley able to form words over his anger. "You're the reason Maria was killed. It was you and your organisations fault!" Arthur chuckled deep in his throat.

"The death of that girl was not our intention, she shouldn't have gotten in the way." Shadow tried to lunge forward, his metal holding his arms down groaning in protest.

"I'll kill you for this!"

"No Shadow, you won't. You're going to stay there for another hour until the ceremony is over, then I will let you down and you will lead our loyal servants in battle.

"I would never join you!"

"Did I say you had a choice, no I did not." There was a sudden flash in the air and instantly, three ghoulish cloaked figures seemed to appear out of nowhere beside them. Their faces hidden underneath their hoods. These were more of those ghost like people the Foundation had been using to hunt him down. "These men did not want to join us either. But the touch of our master can be rather…persuasive."

"You turned them into slaves."

"Devine slaves, and it was not me, it was my master."

"Just who is this…master?" Arthur said nothing. Instead, he turned to face the crowd again. Quietly he spread his arms out wide and began speaking again.

"Blessed are the Children of Krish, for he brings us purpose and meaning. He brings us death where there is omnipotent life, to ensure we do not stagnate like a pool of water. Speak out his name in worship and receive his divine blessing!" The crowd began chanting. At first Shadow wasn't able to make it out, but as the roar intensified, the words were unmistakably familiar.

"KRISH KRA PAL, KRISH KRA PAL, KRISH KRA PAL!"

Flip Card 1:

Name: Mr. Arthur Falcon

Species: human (apparently.)

Age: Appears 25, but is far, far older in actuality.

Job description: Current operating head of the Foundation Organisation. His real purpose however, is far more sinister.