Sonic, Shadow and co are © Sega; all the other characters are mine.
Dragon Master Naya: That was Metal Shadow.
Dark Shadow: Weeeee! A new reviewer! Welcome! Anyway, there's nothing wrong neither in my fic nor in my life. Just a bit of laziness and work.
Firehedgehog: Don't worry. I myself have a crazy schedule, but I really like it (I sleep till 10.30 and I have the night free).
NamelessMoonshine: Becomes all red like a tomato Thanks
Shadow Of Oblivion: Thanks for understanding! And a wooden spoon will do nothing against my wooden stick. Muahahahaha! And don't worry about rambling on, I like when people ramble on about my fic.
Tarem: Umm… that dream… umm…. It could be only a dream… but you don't know me… yeah…
Chaos Flower: Well, I hope this is as soon as possible. Enjoy.
Ryiun: Well, well, well… what we have here? A new reviewer? Welcome! Welcome! Anyway, you better prepare that rusty paperclip because lately I take at least a month to update.
RichaCo: Well, that twist came from a dream I had, but what do you know? I'd like to hear it. And for those questions… umm… I can tell you that you'll find that out soon. Maybe sooner than I think.
Aless: The lava, I have to say, is far down that were she is right now. The warmth comes from pipes with hot water running in them.
Freaky Person O.o: Oe, oe. Calm down! Hehehehe, don't worry about it. I will write the LOYHAL sequel, but at the moment I'm trying to finish this. I discovered that I lost that initial push that let me write more than one fic at time, so… that is why I put JANL and Hidden on hold.
The Ultimate Life Form: And that was only one of the few long ones. From now on it'll be hard to see long chapters like that one.
Authoress' Note: Well, people. Sorry for the long waiting, but I really needed to get my mind off of everything. And that 2000 pieces puzzle helped it. Hope you like this chapter.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Distant Memories
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Amy was left in the small chamber alone; why everyone always left her behind? Was she just an annoying little girl who just got in the way of everyone?
Sulking, the pink hedgehog faced the room; she couldn't leave it or she would get lost in the maze-like caverns, so she might get into gear and make the place more comfortable and ready for any eventual emergency.
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Again…
That strange scene was replaying in his mind again and again, never truly stopping; maybe it was him that replayed it endlessly, but he was unsure of that, like the fact that he was literally unsure of how the hell he ended up in the Chaos Realm in the first place…
However, as much as he hated to admit it, he found that dream pretty interesting and, having nothing better to do, he ended up analyzing every aspect it held.
He was laying on something, perhaps a metal table since it was cold and hard, with a blinding white light hovering directly over him; then, there was this human, apparently male, clad like a surgeon, that raised a hand to reach him.
Sonic opened his eyes and gazed at all the colors that swirled in the distance 'Could be it… a memory?'
He sighed and closed his eyes again 'If only I could remember it all…'
There, again. The strange dream was playing in his mind one more time, only this time there was a beeping sound in the background. Probably some machinery that kept an 'eye' on his heartbeat rate.
"He's awake."
Blurry and dull. Those were the best words to describe the voice that had spoken right now.
Next thing he knew was that his lungs seemed to stop working on their own and a sharp, unbearable pain started pervading his body; only after what seemed an eternity he was jolted back to his current situation.
'Ok, no more freaking dreams. They are starting to get on my nerves."
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Shadow turned a corner and his eyes adjusted to the new level of light that came from a grate right in front of him; he crawled to it and looked through the thick metal grill that separated him from the room.
From his point of view, he could see that it was a rather long laboratory filled with white metal tables lined on the wall under him and machinery on the other.
Unconsciously licking his lips, the small black hedgehog placed his right shoulder on the grate and started pushing; unfortunately, the metal obstacle was firmly fixed on its place.
Sighing in frustration, Shadow crawled on his back with his feet facing the grate and started kicking it "I'm starting to get really, really tired of this little game." He muttered angrily.
After three or four more kicks, the screws finally gave in and the grate fell to the ground with a clang that seemed far louder than a gunshot.
Cringing, he stood motionless in the duct till he was sure that nobody had heard the loud sound; several seconds passed in silence, but nobody came to see what had happened.
Shadow sighed and slowly crawled out of the narrow passage "Hmpf. Like there's someone in this deserted reconstruction…" He muttered finally setting his feet on the ground and turning around.
Suddenly the light in the lab dropped dramatically and everything appeared blurry and dark at his eyes, but most of all, his body started moving on its own; his mind, instead, had entered in a sort of trance. He was 'awake', yet his mind was extremely drowsy. Strange sensation indeed.
Not having anymore control of his younger body, the black hedgehog mentally sighed and let the events unfold.
'I must have triggered some memory. I just hope that this is the right one.'
He could feel himself walking along the line of tables, in search of something not quite clear to him yet, and stop in front of some papers, which appeared a little brighter than the rest of the room.
He picked them up and started to silently read them; although his conscious self only made out few words, he instantly knew that they were extremely important to him.
When his younger self was halfway through the documents, the haze over his mind temporarily lifted, and he was able to hear his own younger voice.
"Results on test with Toxin L75 on S-01 subject."
He could feel his eyes shift down some lines to read on.
"Subject has responded fairly good to the injection of the toxin. However the recover is not going according to previous expectation. Probably cause…" He trailed off as he set his eyes on the next line, "Weary from continual experimentation."
Now Shadow felt the blood of his young counterpart freeze as his hands were reluctant on letting go the papers, or crush them for the matter; just what the hell those humans were doing to his brother?
Shaking his head a little, he rolled up the few papers and was going to turn towards the duct's direction when the door hissed so suddenly that Shadow felt himself jump on the spot and snap his head toward that direction. Ruby eyes locked on a pair of shining red orbs, which returned the an emotionless gaze.
Slowly, his eyes went to the duct; it was too distant to reach without getting caught by the foe, so he decided that it was best to try to confront it until he would find a good opportunity to disentangle himself from the mess he was in.
His left hand automatically tightened around the papers as he sprung into a sprint and passed the red eyes, bolting out into the corridor and running as fast as his still short legs could carry him without the aid of his special shoes.
From that point on, the memory got very blurred, and Shadow was barely able to understand what really was going on; he could feel himself turn around a lot of corners until he came to a complete stop several minutes later into what seemed to be the residential area.
After several moments of panting hidden behind a corner, Shadow leant back on the metal wall trying to calm his racing heart. He was so concentrated that he never noticed that someone was approaching him.
"Shadow?"
Albeit sweet and concerned, the voice didn't prevent him from getting another jump from his already racing body and mind.
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Knuckles looked over the edge in front of the altar and narrowed his eyes; an instant later, three military double bladed helicopter arose from behind it and hovered around the altar. The sliding doors opened and from their metal bellies Hunter after Hunter descended down to the ground, encircling the shrine with their laser rifles at the ready.
The three helicopters slowly turned around and flew to a safety distance, leaving the island as calm as an oil ocean despite the situation.
From the mob of robots, a small squad of humans walked slightly crouching in front of the steps with their normal rifles clearly pointed on the heads of both bat and echidna; one of them, presumably the leader of the little expedition, stood fully erect and lowered his weapon.
"Surrender the Master Emerald and we will not hurt you." He commanded in an hollering voice.
If it wasn't for the situation they were in and for the serious character that he was, Rouge would have bet that the echidna would have exploded with laughs; instead, the Guardian just raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
The bat smirked and shook her head, then she faced the human that had spoke "Do you really think that he's gonna give you the emerald so easily?" She asked faking disbelief.
The female treasure hunter crossed her arms too, "You know what? Never mind. Get out of the island or you'll be painfully kicked out."
Knuckles glanced at the bat questioningly, who just smiled at him "Can't let something so powerful in wrong hands." She simply answered.
The echidna looked back at the mob of robots "Are you really willing to…"
"I'm not that naive, Knuckles. I know when something has to stay were it is. Even if it is a huge and beautiful green emerald that I'd like to have for myself."
After a second a mischievous smile appeared on her lips "I guess that I'll just have to drop here often to get a good look at it."
'And at a certain Guardian too.' She added on her mind.
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The unlikely duo rounded a corner and nearly collided with the same doctor that the fox talked with earlier; after a few seconds of recollection, the man looked at Chaos "What's happening? Why you're moving them without permission?"
The fox quickly shook his head "Chaos had no other choice. For us this place has become too dangerous to stay any longer. We have to leave now."
The human looked at him in the eyes, then he turned around and ran down the same corridor from where he came "Ok, follow me. I'll lead you to the helicopter."
Tails grabbed him by the coat "No." He said sternly, "The Metals are too fast for a helicopter. They'll reach us in a matter of seconds and then we'll be defenseless."
The doctor stopped dead in his track and faced him "Then what you suggest?"
The young vulpine's tails twitched nervously as he started thinking of a safe way of escape "Chaos is stronger than the Metals, however, those two are faster. If only we could pass trough narrow spaces, Chaos would be greatly favored in a possible fight."
The water beast looked down at the fox and nodded; the kid seemed to know what he was doing and this was a good plan. The only problem was where they could find a place like that…
Chaos looked out of the window; they couldn't just walk out in the open ground like nothing was going on, besides, the rain had intensified again…
He found himself focusing his attention on the water on the streets below; if only he could just melt and follow the flow into the drain and the underground passageways, then back at the isl…
His eyes widened at the sudden realization and he turned around to face the young boy called Tails; now, how he was supposed to tell him that he had found a perfect way of escape?
The water beast tilted his head a little to the side; first of all he needed to bring his attention on himself… but how? Talking was out of the question since he could just emit resonances and bubbling sounds. Maybe touching him like he had done with the human?
Well, that was worth a try. He just hoped that the fox wouldn't react bad from it; after all, he could sense that he was still somewhat heavily shaken by the previous encounter with the huge lizard and the two lookalike of the hedgehogs.
Slowly, Chaos took his right arm away from the bundle and lightly poked the fox on his left shoulder once.
Tails, already on the edge of his nerves, jumped as he felt a finger on his shoulder; he turned around and sighed in relief as he saw that it was only his newest ally. He smiled apologetically and tried hard to calm his racing heart.
"Yes?" He asked with a slightly shaking voice.
As soon as the water creature knew that he had the fox attention, he turned to the window and looked down.
The fox walked to the window trying to not tremble more than he was doing in that moment; he couldn't bear another assault like the previous one or he would lose his sanity. He wondered how could Sonic go trough all this and never get scared.
Tails reached the window and looked outside, seeing nothing; after some seconds he felt a little more calm "I don't see anything, out there…"
In that moment, Chaos wished he had the gift of speech. He looked down at the fox at his side and then back at the street down, gurgling out something.
Tails watched closely at the outside surroundings, trying to understand exactly what the water creature was 'telling' him. The fact that he couldn't understand gurglings and bubblings was a mayor problem, especially when it was the only language that his ally could use besides a few gestures.
Chaos looked again at Tails, and decided that it was time to change his approach; he raised his right hand and grabbed the fox's right wrist, starting to gently tug him with him.
The young vulpine immediately understood "You know a safe way?" He asked almost jumping in excitement. The water creature's nod almost made him throw his hands up and jump in jubilation.
However, reality was far too dangerous to permit that, so he had to limit himself to a relieved and happy smile; quickly, he faced the human that was with him "Ok, Chaos has found a way, so that leave us with only one problem."
He took a breath and looked right in the eyes of the man, "And that is enough medical supplies for both Sonic and Shadow and their possessions."
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Short, but at least it's done and I have the right input for the next chapter. See you next.
Az