Chapter X:

Vanquished!

Such a colossal waste…

Omega stood over the wreckage of the Egg Emperor, staring intently at the crumpled form of Dr. Eggman.

"Primary target: eliminated."

The team easily dispersed, their uniting bond having collapsed into a shimmering puddle. Shadow contemplated these events.

He had already accepted that he was Shadow the Hedgehog. The use of his powers, the indomitable will that propelled him through all hazards, everything that made up Shadow's life: he possessed. He made peace with the fact that, in whatever fashion "Shadow" was to live his life, it was to be his life. But, what kind of existence was it to be?

His only source of enlightenment lay a few feet away, melted into a glob of quicksilver. Staring into this abysmal mass, this shimmering mirror brought the cruel truth to the ebony hedgehog's face. Even if he were to seek out the real Eggman, indeed if for a thousand years, the doctor remain as elusive and deceitful as he was now. The truth wasn't in him.

Shadow's mission was a qualified failure.

As for herself, Rouge decided to collect her dues. For days, she kept her eyes on this prize, unflinchingly. It had been her oasis through the long droughts that were brought on by battle. Finally, she could dip her hand into the pool and draw out a long, enriching, drink.

The massive doors slid open. Waiting for her eyes to adjust, Rouge presented her gift to herself, "Now for Eggman's treasure."

As her pupils widened, Rouge's mouth drew back in startle gasp. As far as her eyes could reach, Shadow lay soundly sleeping. Identical copies of her enigmatic ally were sealed away within identical egg chambers. Gaping at this enormous accomplishment, the young, promising, woman, was made to feel small and obsolescent. The sinister mind behind this army was, most assuredly, a proud parent, with divine opinions of himself.

As she stood, awestruck by that which was before her, Rouge failed to notice Omega. With the doors closing behind him, the burly automaton pronounced his intentions, "Prepare for destruction of immediate area."

Shadow was pitiable. The host of duplicates surrounding her made this blatantly obvious to Rouge. Eggman's genius had made Shadow into a commodity, stripped him of his identity… possibly more…

Her conscience was insatiable. It had gnashed upon her heart for quite a while. She knew things. Yet, the great Lady of the Thieves, incomprehensibly, lacked the moral courage to voice them to Shadow.

"Omega," she exhaled to a being lacking capabilities to judge her, "I should tell you that Shadow's a robot…"

"You know about cloning," Omega interrupted. His logical assessment was that, "The original must exist somewhere."

It was so simple that she almost missed it among the ashes. The mirror images crowded around her could only be reflected from a source. Eggman could never realize the true pinnacle he had achieved in the final E-100 robot. All the doctor would ever see was the bits and pieces. He couldn't see the organism for the metal hull. Omega deserved his title, as the culmination of everything Eggman had put into the E-100s. Rouge drank of a better treasure, from a different oasis. She set off after the other. Omega set off on his own duty.

"So what's next for you Rouge?"

It was a familiar, rhetorical, question for a freelance thief. His cool demeanor and proud face, both of which refused to kowtow to any torment, stole the pitying, weakened, words from Rouge's mouth. Her heart hardened again.

"I suppose I'll try to take the Master Emerald, since that irritating echidna's here."

Rouge spoke with a wistful air. That impressive gemstone was enough to send her into schoolgirl pining. The bonus came with a guaranteed challenge worthy of her. He was cute and easily irritated, after all.

Shadow scoffed at the scheming bat's destiny, "Things never change, do they Rouge?"

Not to be outdone, she responded in matter of fact tone, "What are you talking about? What else is there for a world famous treasure hunter to do?"

Walking across the charred deck, Shadow retained a disdainful attitude towards the conniving pickpocket's crass materialism. Even worse was her other "interest." None of those things ever interested Shadow. Still, he envied her. She had a sense of purpose that fate had cruelly denied him.

Amy and her close friends had worked so hard and traveled so far. They now stood over the defeated Dr. Eggman. They knew their friends would be rescued soon enough. It was at that moment, as if responding to their wishes, Eggman melted away. In his place a quivering pool of jellied metal lay at their feet. As if by magic, two large growths arose from the puddle. The expunged lumps quickly formed into recognizable shapes and colors: proving to be Froggy and Chocola!

The gigantic feline and the impish rabbit were squealing in delight as their hard work was rewarded by the return of their loved wins. As the two giggled at their good fortunes, Amy cracked a smile herself, from the infectious emotions, feeling good for having done good deed. No one noticed that the ooze seemed to be slithering away.

Chaos data has been copied…

Cream paid her regards to her friend's reunion, "I'm so glad for you Cheese!"

The little child watched in delight as the chaos twirled in the air, dancing in a familial embrace. This was the sign of a job well done. Cream then noticed something else, beyond the two as they were cavorting. Off in the distance, she spotted three figures. They were red, yellow, and…

"Isn't that Mr. Sonic over there?"

Hundreds of miles, battalions of robots, battles on land, in the sea, and through the air, even ninjas, and Sonic's playing hard to get hadn't stopped. Squeezing by her friends, Amy saw him for herself.

Why let a few more paces get in her way?

Amy was off like a shot!

Cream and Big gave in to heart felt guffaws and giggles as they watched the ball of boundless determination, which was Amy, bolt toward her own goal.

Still… the ooze slithered on.

He felt at peace with himself. His restless spirit had spent the repressed energy that had been accumulating for the last few months.

Knuckles's initial reaction to the letter that had been dropped on his island was one of heedless destruction. A stout guardian should not demean himself with postal work. He was a flick of the wrist short of tearing the note to shreds. Then, he thought about it. How often did an opportunity such as this drop into his lap, literally?

Knuckles weighed the situation in his mind. Eggman was threatening to dominate the world. The brash guardian was calm enough to remember that the world included his island. Technically, guarding against an Eggman attack anywhere else would be a helpful stumbling block to any assaults that would inevitably involve to Angel Island. Boredom figured into this as well.

Even though he couldn't stand getting dragged into Sonic and Eggman's battles of the egos, Knuckles had a psychological to combat as well. Sonic saves the world all the time, he thought, so it couldn't be that difficult. Between a practical need to fend off Eggman anywhere in the world, Knuckles couldn't let the opportunity to put his warrior skills to use go by without partaking. Eggman had already attacked Knuckles before, and wasn't likely to stop, and Sonic needed to see that he wasn't the toughest guy on the block.

His mind made up, Knuckles made a few last minute preparations before departing. In case this was a very elaborate ruse, Knuckles spirited the Master Emerald to a hidden location, elsewhere on the island. Being sure to set up a series of automatic booby-traps, Knuckles was convinced that it would take Eggman troops quite some time to get to this hideaway, not to mention getting through the traps guarding it. Having a reliable security system in place, Knuckles took a running leap and jumped away from his home and settled into a gentle glide.

It rapidly became apparent that Sonic wasn't the easiest guy to find. Instead, Tails became Knuckles's first target. The young fox had a permanent address at his workshop and could be found rather quickly. Using Tails's jet plane made Knuckles's chore a lot easier than before. When Knuckles found Sonic, he wished that he had torn the letter after all.

Knuckles had occasionally grumbled that Sonic "wasn't right in the head." But, after going through some of the things Sonic thought was "fun," the tradition loving echidna was driven to comparing Sonic to Eggman.

The madness finally came to its end, much to Knuckles's relief. The damage done to the Egg Fleet had ripple effects that caused mid-air collisions, explosions, and crashes. The destruction unleashed upon the armada had rendered it too weak to sustain any long-term assaults. Even better, the self-destruction switches arrayed throughout the flagship had proved most beneficial. Though meant to keep Eggman's masterpiece out of enemy hands, the switches, which had been heavily guarded to prevent unwanted explosions, were invaluable to success.

Sir Francis Drake would be proud…

Knuckles was filled with pride as he looked upon the fruits of their labors. Seeing the debris falling harmlessly into the ocean below, the guardian felt a great sense of accomplishment.

"Boy," Knuckles spoke with a weary pride, "Talk about cuttin' it close."

Exuding a calm supremacy, Sonic responded with characteristic boastfulness, "Eh, not really."

Knuckles felt, at least, a little insulted. Even he had realized that the undertaking that they had set out to meet would be more than enough for three men to face, let alone one. Why else would he, of all people, defer to Sonic's leadership?

"Come on," Knuckles prodded of his friendly rival, "Tell me you weren't scared. If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have had a chance."

Sonic always kept the upper hand. As if in simple reconsideration, Sonic reflected and spoke again.

"Maybe you're right. Thanks Knuckles."

After suffering long journeys and fierce fighting, Knuckles was, in that instant, cheated of his prize. In five word's, Sonic crushed Knuckles's hope of getting under the hedgehog's skin. How rude of him! He capitulated! Where's the fun in that?

"You too Tails."

Tails was easily humbled. The entirety of Station Square, with the most eloquent speeches, could not match the effect of a hero's gratitude. The young partner blushed exceedingly at his mentor's blunt praise. Only his fur kept the world from seeing his reddened cheeks.

"Aha!"

Sonic tensed in nervous expectation.

"Gotcha Sonic! Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog didn't have to turn to see that it was his pink counterpart bounding towards him. But, he did anyway.

"Later guys!"

Sonic once again threw himself into the endless chase.

"I'm outta here!"

Staring on in disbelief, Knuckles watched the two hedgehogs making a mad dash across the deck. Comparisons with Eggman began creeping into his thoughts again.

"Hey, wait up Sonic! Get back here!"

As Amy yelled after her beloved friend, hoping to make him a boyfriend, dark clouds began to swirl through the air around them.

Standing over the sprawling body, they could feel success. Their financial needs would finally be met. It was just as Espio felt their rewards piling into his fingers, thatEggman's bulbous frame collapsed into metallic sludge. Vector held his cool.

"Guess he was a fake after all."

The smaller chameleon was overwhelmed by his partner's composure, "What do you mean, 'after all'?"

Vector remained silent on the subject. Instead, he traipsed across the ship's impressive deck. The knowing look on his face hushed his partners. The two followed their gruff leader to a massive pair of automatic doors. There the croc cracked his knuckles and drew back his forceful arm.

"We're here to save you!"

The announcement was blatantly aimed to the client. Three fierce blows broke the doors' frame and shoved them off their tracks. The crash sent echoes through the air that were near deafening for a moment or two. It was after the ringing in the air subsided that Vector spoke again.

"Dr. Eggman I presume…"

The circumstances were entirely different to those faced by Dr. Livingstone. But, the arrival of the Chaotix was just as much a blessing as had been that of Mr. Stanley.

As a bolt of lightning split the clouds, the familiar form of their arch-antagonist flashed out of the shadows. He sat there, a snarling grin on his face.

The shock of this revelation, coupled with the fear of an impending trap, motivated Espio to reassume a fighting stance. He demanded of the person with answers, "What's going on?"

Vector calmly stared the doctor down, while Charmy and Espio refused to take chances. Eggman then sat up, a tinge of surprise on his features.

"You knew it was me all along, didn't you?"

The doctor was genuinely surprised. He was convinced that he had control over his puppets, at least.

Vector could match any of the doctor's smug posturing and fired back a response, "It's all part of being a good detective."

Realizing that the doctor was, honestly, without belligerent intentions towards them, Espio relaxed his muscles, "Were we fooled that easily?"

Charmy tossed his own barb, "You're rotten!"

Sensing the hostility building towards him, and determining that the air between himself and his ill-tempered employees was poor defense, Eggman resorted to his only strength: drama. Drawing himself to his full height and dusting his clothes off, Eggman began his act.

"Hey, hold on guys!"

First he condescended to them.

"It's no trick," he spoke in a rare use of the truth, "and besides, I plan on paying you."

Now came the feature performance. Using body language to heighten the scene, Eggman delivered the key lines.

"You'll be rewarded handsomely for helping me. As soon as I conquer the world…"

For this, Eggman gave his most commanding tone and performance.

"I will pay you!"

The doctor's form was flawless. It was quite convincing, but not completely. Eggman may have been brilliant in the field of engineering, but he most assuredly lacked economic sense.

Wall Street wasn't built on IOUs.

The air in the room became stifling, even though a cool rain began to fall outside. The performing arts had been lost on the audience present.

Crackling joints signaled Vector's displeasure, "Some nerve! Promisin' what'cha ain't got."

The threatening approaches and its commentary were coupled with Espio's own vehemence.

"We've been had!" he spat from his new, offensive, stance.

Eggman lost all composure, resorting to one final form of protection, as one might seek out a hole in the ground. "J-j-just wait a minute," he pleaded, "J-j-just listen to me!"

Pride be hanged! Survival!

Casting the stuttered words aside, Charmy charged the doctor!

"Take this you bad man!"

An awful wail emanated from the storage chamber as the closed space and the falling rains refracted Eggman's words. Puddles of water began to form on the ship's hull. Through these, a stream of quicksilver sidled along.

The time had come. It was no longer necessary to carefully balance his battles, or bide his time. Sonic's speed, combined with Eggman's designs, made it a simple act to engage one opponent, recover, and redirect himself against another. Thrice, he feigned destruction with the last hour. This was made even more astounding when compounded by the radical changes taking place within him. A host of talents and powers now coursed through him. To think! A puddle was using the powers of Chaos to manipulate the skies!

Metal and G.O.G., M.A.G.O.G., slithered along…

Just wait…

Continued…