(MERRY CHRISTMAS)

S.O.N.I.C, GO!

S.O.N.I.C, GO!

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

Artificial Chaos Saga

Episode 23: Operation A.C

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring; apart from a black and red hedgehog who paced the roof hour after hour. The snowing that stopped for the meantime, and Shadow stood on the roof of the Thorndyke estate with a restless mind. Something was preventing him from getting rest, something in the back of his mind that buzzed him constantly.

This was his first Christmas, at least one when he hadn't been sealed inside some sort of stasis sleep. Everyone else saw this a joyous time to be around family, but Shadow on the other hand did not have the luxury. The only people he might call family were long gone and without them, Christmas eve was simply another long, cold December night.

"Shadow…" A faint voice whispered in his ear, and the black and red hedgehog spun around. His eyes wide in astonishment as for a moment he had certain he'd seen her face again. "Shadow…" It came again and Shadow looked down towards the front lawn of the estate. At first glance, it appeared as if no one was there but after a moment he spotted the luminescent figure of a young girl standing by the front gate.

"It can't be…" He told himself, almost trembling as he stared. The figure looked at him, smiled, before gently floating backwards through the grating to the street. Almost desperate not to loose sight of her, the black hedgehog leapt down to the ground. The transparent girl hovered in the air waiting for him as he skated over the snow covered lawn but as he reached the opposite side of the fence, she faded away into the early morning mist. "WAIT!" Shadow cried before somersaulting over the gate, finding the street beyond completely empty. He stood still, waiting for something to happen but after a few moment of silence he sighed and slumped against the fence. "Get a grip Shadow." He told himself, holding an unsteady hand to his forehead. What would Sonic say if he claimed he was seeing ghosts? But in truth, he realized that really wished that it had been her, or some wraith of her. Something he could talk to. He had kept his feelings bottled up for over fifty years and desperately wished he could talk to her one last time.

"Shadow…" The voice whispered again and he looked up again to see a faint white glow just down the street slowly growing smaller as it floated away. He simply stood there, verifying that his eyes weren't deceiving him before he gave chase, but no matter how fast he tried to accelerate this spectre always seemed to be just beyond his reach.

"Please wait!" He cried out, following her through the city as the hours ticked by. The chase was long and it began to fatigue him in ways he never though possible, but did not pause for any rest. If it was her, he could not lose sight of this strange glowing transparent figure. Shadow was usually a hedgehog of rationalisation and this situation, if described to him at any other time would seem absolutely ludicrous, but Shadow didn't care about rational thinking at the moment. His mind was sent on one goal.

Finally, the sun began to rise over Station Square, the city lightly covered in a blanket of snow and then finally the spectre stopped running having lead the black and red Hedgehog to the docks near the bay. Shadow slid to a stop, acing this girl as he hovered nearby. This part of the harbour was the military district of it, which G.U.N had their large tanker ships come in and out. It had been used to transport supplies back and forth during construction of the cities defences, a large turret of which was just viable over the tops of the buildings.

"Is it…" Shadow began, almost hesitant to approach now that he had finally caught up with her. "Is it you…Maria?" Almost as if some divine force had heard him, the morning light intensified, revealing the spectres' features. Silkily blonde hair and sparkling sea blues eyes and if Shadow believed his eyes, a new edition. A pair of soft, giant dove like wings out her back. After fifty years, Shadow found himself without anything to say. Or at least, he tried to say something but the words froze in his mouth. Involuntarily, thick salty tears began wheeling up in his eyes.

"It's good to see you again." Her soft voice started, a voice he never expected to hear again. He nearly stumbled forward, his eyes now stung with tears.

"I…I'm sorry Maria." He nearly chocked, lowering his head. "I could have done something. I'm one of the strongest beings on the planet, I could have saved you." He felt a soft hand gentle caress the side of his face. "I could have saved you all, you, the ARK personnel, the Professor…I…I could have…" He carried on regardless.

"Forget about it Shadow." She told him softly. "We had good times before then didn't we? Just try to remember them." Shadow collapsed to his eyes, his fists clenched around the granite on the ground.

"How can I? It reminds me even more of all I lost." He finally looked up. "I never got to say goodbye." A delicately as any angel, she lifted him with some invisible force to his feet.

"Two trails are behind you, another begins." She told him, looking directly into his blood red eyes. "Chin up Shadow. You're going to have to get over your misery if you want survive." Shadow sniffed and looked up curiously like some four year old child.

"What do you mean?" He asked and before he even finished the sentence, Maria bean to slowly lift up towards the sky. Shadow blinked and leapt after her, finding that once again she remained out of his reach.

"It won't be long before the fate of not just this world, but all words rests on your, and Sonic's shoulders. It will be up to the two of you to fend of the darkness. If you do not succeed, then it's all over for everyone." A single beam of light lanced down from the sky engulfing her being.

"Wait! Don't go!" The black hedgehog called after her, but then the light grew too bright for him to see and he had to force his eyes closed. The world around him blurred into an empty void that seemed to endure itself for an eternity before he opened his eyes again.

He sat up, finding the early morning sunlight coming through the downstairs window of Tails' workshop. Silence maintained itself as he sat there, tears still stinging his eyes. It was still early and no body was up yet, not even a single light radiated from the city across the bay. There was a sudden load grunting and Shadow looked up from his small bed on the floor to see Sonic laying out on the sofa, snoring his head off. A thick thread of saliva hanging from his open mouth.

The black hedgehog rubbed his eyes to remove any evidence of emotion before standing up, reasserting control over himself. Had that all been a dream, but it had all seemed so real. Had it been some kind of message? He shuddered, thinking of the implications. If it had been a dream, all it had done was remind him of his own shattered past. If it was a message, then what had she meant? Precisely what was it he and Sonic…he paused to give the snoring hedgehog a glance…were supposed to do and when? "December twenty-fifth." He whispered to himself, looking at the calendar on the wall near the kitchen area. Well, he certainly didn't want to be around here when all that mushy stuff started and he really needed to clear his head. There was a soft green flare, and he vanished.

As silently as it could, the Yahger Mech made its way up through the forests of the Mystic Ruins towards the towering cliff that faced the bay of Station Square. Finally, once it had reached a sufficient height over a cliff face, its pilot ordered the machine to stop and it came to a direct halt. Okida pushed his head out to check the location and smiled. This had sufficient coverage from air surveillance, keeping his walker hidden from aerial surveillance. The engine of the Mech hissed reluctantly as it powered down, some steam emerging into the air. The bat dropped down from the cockpit, using his large wings to slow his decent to the ground. Unfortunately, his mission had become a little more complicated than he'd expected and something was telling him that he was running drastically short of time. What he need, he reasoned with himself camouflaged his Mech further with old branches and thick leaves, was help if he ever hoped to complete his agenda.

A short distance from where had had concealed his Walker, he came across a path created by the constant use of hikers. He could see Station Square just across the bay from here, which meant this destination was not too far now. In fact, if he judged the tracks in the ground right, it would be just around the corner.

His reasoning proved correct for as he rounded a large tree devoid of leaves, he saw Tails' Workshop built into the cliff just a few yards away. Okida never liked asking for help, it made him feel lessened if he had to resort to it, but he would if he had to, especially with so much at stake. He sighed and paused to thing about what he'd say to explain himself, but finding no perpetration could make him feel better he though he'd just get it over with. He pushed the drape around his shoulders off his nose and back below his neck again. It had kept him warm during the long nights on the run, but he reasoned that this place had to have some sort of central heating system. The warmth from witch he would look more forward to.

Without waiting, he pushed the door open and looked inside. Evidentially, some of them had had a party the other night. The remains of streamers lay on the floor all around the furniture, along with a sufficient amount of food and crumbs. Stepping inside, he found himself standing level with the barrel of a very accurate laser rifle mounted under Metal Sonic's right arm.

"Don't try anything stupid." The robot told him sharply. Okida gave him a side glance.

"This hardly seems like customary treatment for Christmas day." The bat replied as Metal Sonic forced him further into the room at gun point. Catching the noise, Sonic nearly fell off the sofa in surprise, before pushing himself to his feet. He yawned, rubbed the sleep out of his eye, blinking a few times.

"Hey what's…." He began sleepily. "Okida?"

"Hey.." The bat replied with a wide grin, raising a hand, before Metal Sonic shoved him further into the room, keeping his weapon directed at his head. "Do you mind?"

"I saw this guy on the news." Metal Sonic explained keeping his weapon held ready. "They want him for the theft of a Walker and high treason." Okida seemed to take offence at that remark.

Metal Sonic explained keeping his weapon held ready. Okida seemed to take offence at that remark.

"I'm no traitor." He almost snarled. Sonic stepped between the two of them quickly, sensing an escalating level of hostility.

"Ok, easy people. It's ok Metal Sonic; Okida's an old friend of mine." The blue hedgehog began, pushing down on the robot's arm to make him lower it. "If he says he's not a traitor, then that's good enough for me." It amazed Metal just how trusting Sonic could be. It had said on the report that this guy was a dangerous criminal and should be considered extremely violent. Yet, the robot supposed if he believed the media then he'd have to consider Shadow a heartless psychopath hell bent on the destruction of Earth. He lowered his arm, reluctantly. "Ok then bat boy, I suppose you're going to try and do some explaining." Okida looked down at Sonic with a puzzled look on his face. The bat stood at the tallest height for a mobian, rivalling Bark in stature. "So why exactly are they saying you're a vicious piece of scum who sold government secrets to Eggman?" The blue hedgehog said it so coyly it took a few moments for Okida to figure out that he wasn't being mocked.

"I'm on a covert mission." He explained simply. "And I really don't have time to explain all the details." Sonic said nothing. He simply crossed over to the kitchen unit and switched the light witch on.

"Shame." He replied, before reaching into a unit and withdrawing a box of cereal. Okida's mouth went dry. Although he had never been found of cereals, being on the run for the last three days without food had left him hungry for just about anything.

"That's cruel." He said angrily, taking the bowl away from Sonic as the blue hedgehog added a drop of milk. Sonic's method of interrogation seemed to be far more effective an anything the fiercest of G.U.N officers would be able to come up with. After a first few spoonfuls of cereal, Okida let slip a few details of his mission and then he sang like a bird when Sonic slid two pieces of bread into the toaster.

"It's a secret group within G.U.N itself." Okida began. "I first stumbled across its existence during the Grand Prix. They believe that the current Government is too soft in its foreign policies and seeks to overthrow it. They've tried to perform coup's many times in the past, but when it went wrong the efforts get blames on international terrorists." Tails had come up from his workshop a few minutes ago and was listening to every word. "These people are vicious; they believe that the world should be governed by one super body. I tell you, they're only one step up from Nazi's. Since the government began salvage operations within the Egg Fleet, they've been hording the mass majority of technology for themselves, creating superior Mech Walkers to the ones current in use in the military. If they try a coup with this kind of weaponry, they may very well succeed." He reached into his pocket and withdrew two CD discs inside a plastic cover. "These contain information downloaded from the personal computer files of one of their leaders, General Saddler. It reveals their conspiracy plot and the technical readouts of their Mech's. This, along with the other evidence I was able to gather, will expose them."

"Other evidence?" Tails asked sceptically. "What other evidence?"

"A fifty ton hunk of metal capable of levelling a small city block; something I acquired from someone who stole it from their armoury. That, with this stuff I've got here, will be enough to convict them for god knows how many years." He narrowed an eye, remembering an important factor; why he was here. "But to get this information to do any good, I'm going to need help." Sonic and Tails cast each other a glance.

"What sort of help?" They asked at the same time as Okida tucked the discs back into his pocket.

"I don't know who all their agents are. I can't trust the authorities at the moment; their spies riddle the establishment at the moment. The only thing I can do is deliver this information to the President himself. He's the only one with the authority I need to get these people. But I need to get it to him fast, who knows when they might try something." A smile crossed Sonic's face.

"I think we just might be able to help you in that department."

Returning to the very spot in the docks Maria had lead him to in his dream, Shadow paused to reflect on her words, finding them to repeat over and over in his head. Her visitation, either in the divine sense or nothing more than simply a dream, had shaken him far more than he would care to admit, even to himself.

Perhaps he was dwelling on it too much, letting himself sink deeper into a depression that had dogged him for five decades. He knew he would have to try and put her death behind him, but it was painful for him to let go, and besides, he did not want to forget.

He did not want to forget the injustices inflicted on the Ark civilians by the people of Earth, how simple minded fear had lead to those tragic events.

He stopped, correcting himself. It hadn't been the orchestration of the people's of Earth that lead to that. Ultimately, it had been because of the dark intentions of the Foundation Organisation and their dark deity, Krish Kra Pal. It was because of them, ordering a new body for inhabitation, that Project Shadow had been started. When they discovered that Prof. Gerald had no intention of delivering a weapon into their hands, they falsified documents to justify an invasion.

Shadow scowled, Krish Kra Pal had been the author of both the destruction of his life on ARK, and of the Chao massacre eight thousand years ago.

A loud humming noise reached his ears and he looked up to see a large swarm of military choppers heading towards the city from the horizon. He flipped himself back up to his feet and stared. These choppers crossed the bay and entered city air space, disappearing through the buildings. There was not especially troubling about helicopters above the city, Shadow saw them all the time, but it seemed strange to have so many. Within a few moments, a large G.U.N tanker began to pull into the bay, heading for the docks. This was a big once, far larger than the boats he had seen coming in and out of the harbour this morning.

Most of the people were still in their homes celebrating Christmas day with loved ones and didn't notice the colossal vessel move towards the city slowly, coming to a complete stop as it reached the water's edge. From his vantage point, the roof of an abandoned warehouse, the black and red Hedgehog good see a good deal of Walkers on the deck. But these were unlike any walkers he'd seen before, they were sufficiently larger, and painted bright red. Was this what Maria had lead him here to discover? He crouched, watching with curious interest.

A large iron door in the side of the ship opened and more of these new Mech's began striding down a large gangplank to the docks. There were even more walkers inside the side then there were on the top. These new machines proceeded to take up a defensive position along the dock, their large missile pads and machine gun turrets facing inward towards the city; like an army preparing to invade.

"Well this is new." He told himself, before sliding down of the roof and down to the ground. He didn't want to engage these people just yet, in case he was making an error in judgement, attacking innocent G.U.N forces making simple manoeuvres. The media would have a field day with that.

"Tango-sigma four calling headquarters…come in headquarters." One of the Walkers had it's glass cockpit open and the human pilot was standing up, speaking into the mike in his helmet. Shadow skated silently up to the Mech's legs, hiding in it's shadow, listening carefully. "Yes sir, troops in place. No interference from local peace keepers. Awaiting further orders." There was a brief pause. "Yes sir. Over and out." The pilot turned off the link and sat back down in his cockpit.

"Kernel, what are the orders?" Another pilot called over. Shadow darted between the large Walkers, keeping himself out of sight below the pilots line of sight.

"We wait until we receive word from the troops in the north. The General wants to make sure the ground to orbit cannon is seized before he signals the invasion force." Shadow's eyes widened at the words invasion force as the glass panel slid down over the cockpit. Now it had been confirmed that these pilots were not G.U.N soldiers, but rather Imperial collaborators. Shadow cared little for the war between the military and Eggman, a war that Sonic and his friends constantly got themselves involved in. But the black and red hedgehog thought that he should nip this little problem in the bud before innocent people got hurt. He held his arm out and fired a concentrated Chaos spear attack straight at the legs of one of the large red Walkers, knocking it over completely. Even as it crashed to the ground, he shot upward, slicing through several of them with a single effort. His spin dash attack rebounded off the side of their ship before bouncing right back through another two, tearing through their metal frames. These ones had tougher armour than regular Walkers, but to him it was nothing.

It did not take him long to tear his way through those on the docks before taking from the ship, giving those on deck only enough time to fire a fire pathetic shots before he shot through them, making them explode into tiny pieces. Seeing the commotion on the harbour, the choppers that had soured ahead did a u-turn and came straight back. Even these air bound enemies did little to hinder Shadow. The sky was no limit to him, not with Chaos Control fuelling his very being.

Vanishing into a green flare, the black and red hedgehog flew into the air, firing a chaos spear attack straight through the blades of a choppers. Causing to start spiralling towards the ground. These took even less time to demolish than the Mechs and soon the entire harbour as littered with burning wreckage. Standing on the tip of the ships bow, Shadow stared out across it with his armed folded. This scene reminded him so much of his past it was almost disturbing. Not too long ago he would have taken absolute pleasure here, inflicting destruction on the dogs of the military. But now, this battlefield just mad him feel more and more empty.

"Do you mind telling me what you're doing?" A voice asked as Sonic emerged out of his own Chaos control warp next to him. The blue hedgehog was still a novice in using the teleportation capabilities of Chaos Control, but he was a fast learner and could make relatively long jumps now and then.

"How did you know I was here?" The black hedgehog asked, looking back over his shoulder as the blue hedgehog joined him.

"I looked out the window and saw the fireworks." Sonic replied, gesturing to the wreckage around them. "I think you owe me a little explanation Shadow."

"These soldiers were planning an attack on the city. I stopped them." Sonic blinked, loosing his sudden angry stare. He looked like he was replying, but Shadow mind was suddenly miles away. He could sense a very peculiar chaos energy signature, coming from within the ship itself. A signal that almost seemed familiar. He couldn't place it, but he was sure he had sensed it before. The signal fluctuated, like was unstable. Shadow turned and crouched, touching the floor with his finger tips, feeling a sudden vibration in the ship itself.

"Are you even listening to me?" The blue hedgehog asked, walking in front of him. Before Shadow could answer, the entire vessel shook violently as something within it's hull smashed away at the inside. And then again, this time with even more ferocity, nearly knocking the ship over. "What the hell was that!?"

"Corporal!" A technician at a radar screen shouted up to his superior office who was looming over him. "I'm reading A.C online and acting on it's own, it must be within range of it's intended targets." The human military office smiled grimly, folding his arms behind his back.

"Good. As soon as it's mission is complete we'll be free of two of the greatest threats to our cause." With a loud crashing roar, the large doors that opened up into the hull tore open, sent flying into the air. Snaking up out of the gapping gorged hole came a large head on a long neck nearly encased completely in metal. Shadow looked up, recognising it in an instant, the energy signal now very familiar.

"It can't be…" He began with a dry throat.

Flip Card 1:

Name: Operation Artificial Chaos

Description: A project started by General Saddler to combat Sonic and Shadow. For specific details see next flip card.

(R&R)