Being Free
Written by Airo 'Insanity Inc' Smicktor
I have never owned any of the characters used here, nor is it likely that I
ever will (unless Sega or Sonic Team goes really crazy)
Chapter 11 - Despair
"Shock - Something that jars the mind or emotions as if with a violent unexpected blow."
"Say Shadow, was this area so hectic when you were here last time?" The blue hedgehog asked.
"No way Sonic, there's more traps and robots around. It was only about two days ago since I was here."
"How could Eggman mobilise so quickly?" Tails asked
"That's not our concern Tails, we've got to stop him, whatever he's up to." Knuckles said
"It's a trap, I'm sure of it. Maybe we shouldn't have split up from the others..." Shadow began to say.
"You worry too much, Shadow. Amy, Rouge and Big can handle anything together, so Cream's in safe hands." The guardian said.
"I know that Knuckles, but I can't help feeling that there's something not right around here..."
"That's a no-brainer! When ever Eggman's around, nothing's right!" Sonic joked
"...That's not what I meant..." Shadow said under his breath, realising the conversation was going nowhere.
"Froggy... I miss my Froggy..."
"Amy, is he always like this?" Rouge asked, in a whisper.
"Yes, you get used to it eventually." The pink hedgehog replied."It's just that Froggy was taken before, and that was during the Chaos incident, and they'd been friends for a very long time..."
"Chao, chao-chao..." Cheese whimpered, in a very sad-sounding voice.
"Don't worry Cheese, we'll all help find Chocola together!"
"It doesn't really make sense, a Chao and a frog?" The bat said in disbelief
"I don't understand it either, but we've got to find that Eggman before Sonic and the others do."
"...Why?"
"Because if we do, Sonic will see how smart and brave I am, and then there's no way he can resist me!"
Rouge faked a smile, pretending that she thought Amy's 'plan' would work. Still, she had some kind of a point, would Shadow be impressed to see her take down Eggman with this kind of back up? 'An erratic Sonic-obsessed pink hedgehog, a 6 year old rabbit, a Chao and a fishing cat hardly makes up even the 20th best fighting force against Eggman. The odds are stacked against me this time,' Rouge thought, 'But then again, when aren't they? Besides, this might be just the kind of challenge a girl like me needs nowadays. I can't spend all my time love struck over a hedgehog like Amy does. Although... that might not be so bad...'
"You've got... One... New E-Mail message."
Fang pulled out his mini-computer out of his pocket, and flipped the screen up. "Show message, it'll be the Doc"
Showing message:
'Fang, this is Robotnik. You were right about the Chaotix, promise money, and they come running. I sent them on a few 'tests' to see if they are as good as you say they are, they've been hunting Hermit Crabs and rescuing Chao for me, and they've produced excellent results! I've been reading some of Metal Sonic's entries in his 'diary', he's luring out Sonic for a battle near the Ocean Palace. What's worse, he's going disguised as ME! The ignorance of it all! He steals my machines, my robots and now my identity! He'll pay for this, he'll pay dearly! Remember, the emerald count so far is 2 to us, one to Sonic, and luckily none to Metal. For some reason Metal is not interested in the emeralds, so either he is very confident in his abilities, or he is blinded by his own greed. I hope for the latter. Keep me informed of your progress Fang, I'm counting on you! – Dr. Robotnik.
P.S. I have attached some files about Sonic and the others, as well as files on Project Shadow and the ARK incident. You may be able to use this information to your advantage. Please pay close attention to the file concerning 'Re-Birth', I fell that it may become very relevant in the near future.'
"...I guess that Metal isn't hanging around, I better hurry along myself then, I don't want to get caught up in any fight between Sonic's gang and Metal's army. I'll take the scenic short cut around the Palace. Nice o' the Doc to send me this kinda stuff, I don't know nothin' about ARK, but that 'Re-Birth' file's gotta be somethin', he said 'please'! He ain't never been that polite before..."
"I don't get it, we've been through the whole place, and there's no sign of Eggman anywhere..." Knuckles said, shaking his head.
"It's quiet as well..." Sonic said."And that's unusual for an area taken over by Egg- Brain's robots. Where is he...?"
"SONNNNNIIICCCC!" Amy's voice shouted, causing Sonic to grab Shadow and hide behind him.
"GAH! Amy! Hide me, quick!"
"You're just a fast as me!" Shadow stated, shoving Sonic away."Hide yourself!"
Sonic didn't react fast enough, as he felt the grip of Amy's arms wrapping around him. Sonic hardly noticed Amy's look of glee as he struggled to find a way to escape.
"Oh Sonic, I've missed you so much!"
"ACK! It...was...only...an hour...ago...can't...breathe..."
"We didn't find Froggy anywhere..." came the sad voice of Big, who, along with Cream, Rouge and Cheese, had followed Amy but at a slower pace.
"We didn't find anything either, just Eggman's robots." Tails stated
"It's too strange, why would Eggman send out... wait..."
"Huh, what is it Rouge?" Shadow asked
"I can hear something... sounds like... engines or something..."
"CHAO! CH-AO!"
"What is it Cheese?" Cream asked her Chao friend
"CHAO! CHAO!" Cheese was pointing into the distance, where there seemed to be some kind of aircraft heading in their direction.
"What is that?" Tails said, looking at the object.
"Eggman." Came the voices of Sonic and Shadow together. Sure enough, as the craft headed closer towards them, they could see the familiar rounded shape of Dr. Robotnik, who seemed to be in control of some sort of flying mechanical bird.
"MWHAHAHAHA!" came the abominable manic laughter from the craft, which could only belong to the infamous Doctor. The craft flew high and over the heads of the group below, and headed off wards. Instantly, Sonic and Shadow took the lead and headed off after Eggman, with the others following behind.
Eventually, Eggman's craft stopped in an area full of small sand islands connected by stone bridges, with stone pillars on both sides of the bridges. Metal Sonic smirked; he had reached the Sand Circles. Surrounded by water, he had an advantage over Sonic. It was a well-known fact that Sonic's major weakness was water. If all went according to plan, Sonic would be gone for good, and there would be no need for the 'final transformation' he had planned as a final plan. It would also mean he no longer had to shape his body into the form of Eggman to trick Sonic, but it was a necessary step to keep his true intentions secret. But there was a slight complication, Sonic had brought many allies with him, usually he only had that freak Tails with him, which he'd planned for, but there were 6 others as well as those 2, and one of which was Project Shadow. This changed things slightly; he would have to be careful.
"Sir, there are more organic life-forms confirmed in the area." Came the voice of the Eggpod's computer that Metal was sitting in
"How many?" asked Metal, in Eggman's voice
"4. 1 coming around the cliff-face, and 3 heading also from the Palace area. Warning! Large energy field detected in single unit approaching from cliff-face."
"Strange... Never mind, I'll finish off Sonic quickly then deal with the rest."
"So! You were the ones playing games with MY army!"
"Dr. Eggman" Shadow said, looking with cold eyes at the strange craft he was using.
"MWHAHAHA!" Metal was pleased, the disguise was working."Stop your futile efforts, you'll just make fools of yourselves!"
"I think you've got that backwards Doc!" Sonic shouted
"We're talking to you, Doctor!" Rouge added, preparing herself for battle
"Come on guys, we'll let Sonic take care of this!" Amy said, as she, Cream, Cheese and Big took refuse behind a fallen pillar in the sand.
"Witness this new power, the power of the Egg Hawk!" and with that, Eggman activated the rotor engines on the craft, and took of in reverse, allowing the main front cannon and side gunners to fire at the group. The quick attack caught them by surprise, but bad aiming meant that no one was injured. Quickly regrouping, Sonic and Shadow chased after the Hawk, with the others following. The Hawk began to swerve left and right, peppering the stone bridge with laser fire from the guns as they aimed for the leading hedgehogs. Eggman didn't even seem to care that he was taking out some of the standing pillars as he moved his new weapon around.
Eggman eventually stopped his flying assault and brought the Hawk down to ground level on one of the 'sand circles'. Sonic and Shadow just reached him when they were surprised by a small swarm of Eggman's robots, who were armed with metal lances and large protective shields.
"Yo Shadow! Let's see if you can copy this move!" Sonic shouted, as he jumped to the direction of one of the robots, before spinning around it rapidly. The momentum cause what seemed to be a sort of blue-coloured mini- tornado to appear around the robot, which caused the shield and lance to be ripped away from the robot's mechanical hands as it was carried up high into the air. A short second passed before the robot fell back down to the ground, where it smashed upon impact.
"Hmph, very impressive... faker..." Shadow smirked, as he proceeded to replicate the same move himself upon two of Eggman's robots, and the same effect happened again, as the two were swept upwards, but in a black tornado, and were destroyed upon hitting the sand below.
"Who's the faker now! That was the same...!" Sonic's rant was interrupted by Knuckles' fist smashing through another robot's shield, and punching a whole straight through the robot. Knuckles pulled out his fist, and pushed the defeated robot over with a finger.
"Much quicker!" Knuckles said to himself
"Come on Knuckles! There was no style in that!"
"Excuse me Sonic, but I'd rather end a fight quickly rather that risk getting my head blown off performing ballet"
"The only thing you'll be performing is the funeral march!" roared Eggman from his cockpit. "INITIATE ROTARY ATTACK!" Suddenly the Egg Hank's guns began firing out streams of laser bullets as the Hawk began rotating three hundred and sixty degrees. Sonic and Shadow dodged the blasts with ease, and Knuckles dived out of the way.
"REGROUP! TAILS! What the heck is this thing doing?" Sonic shouted
"It's those rotor engines!" Tails shouted back, as he and Rouge flew up to the scene of the battle, "That's what make the craft rotate and go so fast, so if you take them out, then..."
"I'm on it Miles, come on Sonic, let's end this." Sonic nodded in agreement to his darker counterpart, and almost instantly, the both jumped high over the laser fire of the guns, and began striking the rotor engines with homing attacks – Shadow dealt with the left engine, Sonic the right. A few rapid heavy attacks were all it took before both engines began to pour out thick black smoke.
"OH NO! Both rotors are gone!" the Doctor shouted out in dismay.
"That's it! He's a sitting duck now!" Knuckles grinned, as he leapt forward and began hammering the main body of the Egg Hawk with his namesakes. Rapidly, like a boxer training with a punch bag, Knuckles struck the Hawk with a succession of rights and lefts; he was in his element, hardly taking notice of the danger around him. He didn't even notice that the left gunner had been taken out by a powerful high kick by Rouge.
"Eggman! Give it up!" Tails called out, as he rendered the right gunner inoperable with what seemed to be three small 'Dummy Ring Bombs'. Soon enough, the effects of the onslaught became apparent, as the whole main body of the Egg Hawk was almost consumed by thick black smoke.
"THIS ISN'T THE END!" Eggman cried out, as the Eggpod he sat in detached it's self from the Hawk, and took off into the sky and then into the distance.
"Eggman is getting away! Let's get after him!"
"Sonic! There's no time, that thing's gonna blow! TAKE COVER!"
"Vector! Look over there!" Charmy said, pointing into the distance
"Hey! That looks like something that Eggman would create." Espio said
"Yeah!A big, huge metal birdie!"
"And one that looks like it's going to explode any..." Vector was cut off sharply by the sight and sound of a roaring explosion from the robotic bird. The explosion was bright, and launched various small parts of the machine into the air. Vector looked at his fellow partners, and they nodded in approval back. Espio, being the fastest of the group took the lead, with Vector following him and Charmy following him. A giant robot bird was something you didn't see everyday, and could really mean only one thing – clues.
Anything else that might have been said was lost in the roaring explosion that occurred as the Egg Hawk began self-destructing. Sonic and Tails took shelter under the stone bridge that connected the sand dunes, while Knuckles dug himself underneath the sand. Rouge had not been so quick enough to react to the warning, and was caught off guard was sent flying backward from the force of the blast, hitting the ground hard. Shadow had taken a sort of shelter on the sloping edge of the sand near the water, hoping that he was far away enough to protect himself. He looked up from his position, to see Rouge lying on the ground.
"ROUGE!" Shadow screamed out, sensing something was wrong. BOOM. Another explosion sounded, this time as one of the rotor engines came flying off, and straight into one of the tall stone pillars that were surrounding the battle area. Ancient stone and dust flew out as the pillar moved slightly. Shadow looked over at Rouge, who was wobbling her way to a vertical position. Shadow again looked at the pillar, and saw more cracks begin to form in its structure as it started to lean slightly inwards, towards the sand. Shadow put two and two together, and quickly leapt up and ran towards Rouge. The pillar now leaned over faster, it was clear that it was coming down, and Rouge was unaware that she was directly underneath it.
"ROOOOOOUGE!" Shadow screamed again, as Rouge turned her head to see him run towards him. She was still slightly dazed from the effects of the first explosion, so was unsure what was happening. All she felt from then was two strong-gloved hands shove her away, then falling over onto the sand. Then there was a loud thumping sound, a mix between something falling over and something being crushed, and then another explosion from the Egg Hawk. Then there was nothing, apart from the contrasting sounds of the gentle sea rising against the sand, and the blazing roar of the fires from what was the Egg Hawk. Rouge also noticed something else – one of the stone pillars had fallen over onto the sand.
'Strange,' Rouge thought, 'How did that happen...' Rouge's eyes now went wide, as she saw a small trickle of a crimson red liquid start to slowly pour out from underneath the pillar. She quickly thought back to what had just happened, the crashing sound, the hands pushing her back, the sight of...
"Shadow? SHADOW?" rouge called out, as half-stumbled over to the side of the pillar. "SHADOW!" Rouge screamed out, as tears formed underneath her eyes. Sonic, Tails and the others all heard the calls, and ran over to Rouge's position.
"...Dear God..." was all that Sonic could manage to get past his lips, as the realisation of what had just happed slowly hit them all. Even the three detectives who had only just arrived on the scene could sense what had happened.
After only having lived a week, the second life of the Ultimate Life- Form had ended. Even a tear formed in the eyes of Sonic as he gazed sadly upon the pillar.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog... again..."
A short distance away, Fang was taking shelter behind a large rock, having heard explosions a short distance away. He was franticly typing away at his computer, trying to contact Robotnik.
"Damn weak signals out here! I need to find out what the hell Metal's up to!"
"Incoming signal... Incoming signal..."
"Accept! ACCEPT IT DAMN IT I NEED OUTTA HERE!"
"Connecting to signal. Connection established, incoming transmission being relayed from Space Colony ARK, also being received by Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Transmission reads as follows:
Life readings on Project Shadow: Breathing – Negative, no oxygen flow around body has been detected. Pulse – Negative, no body or reflex movements have been detected. Heartbeat – Negative, no blood flow around body detected, however, a blood loss has been detected. Synopsis – Project Shadow has reached the final status for and living and organism – death. Shadow the Hedgehog has died. Prepairing next course of action for Project Being Free.
By the command of his creator, Professor Gerald Robotnik, and, more correctly, his granddaughter and rightful owner, Maria Robotnik, the final command structure of Project Shadow will be unlocked so that Project Shadow may exist with no previous knowledge of events before his death. Initial commands for the Re-Birth of Project Shadow will therefore commence... Standing by...
"...Say What?"
Author notes: Chapter 11, now in easier to read format! At least I think so, maybe that was causing the readers not to read (does that make sense?) and review? Ah well, I might edit all the previous chapters like this, I might not. Probably not, I'm lazy. Not good I know. BTY, SHADOW IS COMING BACK! He's just being brought back to life (as an ultimate life-form does of course). Now that small point's out of the way, it's reply to review time!
Anthony Bault - Oh yes, it is interesting, but it's all relevent in the end. I'm not giving anything away just now, but all the members of 'Team Dark' will appear in this story.
Celestial the Hedgird - Thanks again, as you can read, Re-Birth has arrived! I don't do cliffies intentionally, they just seem to happen (plus it helps me make this fic interesting). Your support is very welcome, as is everyone's
hyper Phantom - Thanks you for the short but sweet review, I'm not sure if you refering to Metal Sonic, but he's appeared here.
Zyzz - Aha! Someone's followed a link on a message board that I put! Thanks for your support, I hope this chapter doesn't dissapoint
I'm not gonna give away any details about the next chapter, because I'm feeling slightly evil right now, but it's a no-brainer (kinda like Big) that Re-Birth kicks off in the next chapter! Stay tuned, this has been Airo 'Insanity Inc' Smicktor, urging you to keep Being Free! (OMG that was too cheesy...)
Edited 25-03-05 for paragraphing