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Again, thanks for all your nice reviews! And thanks to Kelly who drew me a piece of fan art to go with the story! I've never had tht before lol
Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 15

The Tornado flew at top speed toward Eggman's base. Shadow had his wrist communicator open and was looking at the location of Ray's watch.

"Hold on Ray…" he thought.

"There it is you guys!" Tails called out amongst the rushing of the wind.

Shadow and Knuckles looked up and there they could see Eggman's looming mansion. Huge storm clouds were building up around them and the plane began to swerve as the wind grew stronger.

"The weather's beginning to play up! I'll try and pull in as far as I can but it won't be easy!" Tails shouted.
"Just try your best Tails!" Shadow answered back.

As the plane drew in closer to the building, robots began to fire at them. Shadow ducked, a laser just missing the top of his head. Tails fired back, with the built in machine gun on the front of the plane and continued to pull in closer.

But then an unseen laser hit the Tornado on the propeller. Tails blinked and yelped as he saw the front of his plane go up in smoke. The plane began to go out of control, swerving to the left sharply.

Shadow and Knuckles clung on for dear life.

"Hold on you guys! We're gonna crash!" Tails yelled and swerved the plane toward the wiring fencing, surrounding the base.

Several robots jumped or ran out of the way as they saw the plane coming toward them. The Tornado hit the ground, smashing into the fencing.

Dust and dirt arose as the plane crashed.

…

"Sir, there is an aircraft which has crashed in the facility. What shall we do?" said one of Eggman's human slaves.

"Show me on camera" the Supreme Ruler ordered.

One of the remaining cameras, which had not been shot, revealed the wreck. It was smoking and it appeared to have no life on board.

"Order the guard robots out there to investigate." Eggman said.

…

The robots began to edge in closer to the craft, holding their guns out at it.

Suddenly Shadow jumped out of the wreckage. He was holding his gun and shot at the robots surrounding him. One by one they jerked and died as they took a hit.

Tails and Knuckles followed him and shook off the dirt from their chests.

"Is everyone alright?" Shadow asked.
"Just fine…" knuckles said.

Tails nodded.

Shadow looked at his watch again.

"OK we've got to get inside. I'll lead the way." Shadow said and ran toward the main entrance door, which had been left wide open.

…

"They still have the Tornado?" Eggman exclaimed.

"He's destroyed the robots sir. What shall we do?" asked the same human slave.

Eggman grinned.

"Nothing. Let them come. Our newest member will sort them out…"

He laughed loudly.

…

Shadow Knuckles and Tails ran through the base, following the guidance of Shadow's watch. Many robots tried to stop them but they weren't a match for Shadow and his gun. Soon no more robots came and the hallways became empty.

The three stopped to verify their location. Knuckles was beginning to get impatient.

"We've been running for ages! I have to find the Master Emerald!" he moaned.
"Knuckles, we have Ray to find too you know! Just be patient and you'll get your emerald." Shadow replied in annoyance.

Knuckles folded his arms. Tails looked over Shadow's shoulder, at his watch.

"Hey…it says that Ray's in that power room. The one that I said looked like a corridor." He said.

"You see Knuckles? We can kill two birds with one stone. Now let's go. It isn't far from here. Just down some stairs…" Shadow said.

The stairs Shadow referred to turned out to be more than just "some". 200 to be precise.

After what seemed a life time, the three friends finally reached the basement. They stopped and bent over, gasping for breath.

Tails wiped his forehead.

"That's my exercise done for today!" he wheezed.

Shadow stood upright and looked at his watch.

"He's just ahead of us, along with the emeralds." He said.
"All right!" Knuckles yelled and ran ahead.

"Knuckles! Wait up!" Tails yelled and ran after him.

Shadow rolled his eyes and hurried after them.

They passed a grill lying on the floor, taken from the air duct above them. Shadow blinked as he passed it.

It wasn't long before the friends reached the large "RESTRICTED" door. They noticed the card swiper blown to bits and as they stepped forward the door opened.

"This must be how Ray was able to get in." Tails said quietly and followed Shadow and Knuckles inside.

Sure enough, the emeralds sat in front of them, each glowing as energy was being slowly drained from it. The Master Emerald sat in the middle of the chaos emeralds.

"It looks like each one of the emeralds controls one part of the building." Tails said, examining the strange tube like things attached to the emeralds.

Just then they heard footsteps. They gasped and span around. A figure could be seen in the shadows. Shadow held aloft his gun and clenched his teeth. Knuckles and Tails stanced.

"Who's there?" Shadow yelled out into the darkness.

The figure stepped forward into the light. Everyone blinked as they saw that it was Ray. He had dark rings around the bottom of his eyes and his eye lids were half closed.

"Ray!" Shadow cried and ran to him.

The others looked on as Shadow ran to his son. Shadow stood in front of Ray.

"I'm glad to see that you're not dead but it looks like Eggman tried to make you talk. Are you OK?" Shadow asked.

Ray made no reply and just stared at Shadow. Shadow blinked.

"Ray?"

He clutched Ray by the shoulders and shook him.

"What's he done to you?" Shadow cried.

"…Stay away from the emeralds…" Ray answered blankly.

Shadow blinked and Ray suddenly threw a punch to Shadow's face. Shadow wasforced backward and rolled along the floor.

"Shadow!" Tails called.

Just then an evil laughter came over the loud speakers. It was Eggman.

"Good to see you lot again! It certainly has been a while."

Shadow pulled himself up to his feet and wiped away the blood from his lip.

"What have you done to him Eggman?" he yelled.

"I just simply put him in his place." came Eggman's reply over the speakers. "No one can resist the power of hypnosis. How else do you think I get my slaves? He obeys me now."

Shadow looked at his son in pity.

"Kill him!" Eggman yelled.

Ray suddenly leapt in the air and gathered up chaos spears in his hands. Emotionless, he threw the spears toward Shadow.

Shadow blinked in surprise and ran, avoiding the shots.

"Tails! Knuckles! Sort out the emeralds. Maybe one of them controls the thing that's controlling Ray!" Shadow yelled out, running away from the blasts.