I do not own Sonic X...etc.
Flip card 2:
Name: Shadow
Age: Over fifty years
Species: Hedgehog "Ultimate Life-form"
Sex: Male
Description: Frozen in suspended animation for fifty years, Shadow is the end result of Project Shadow; started by Prof. Gerald Robotnik.
Alarms on the base started blaring even before the explosion tore through the ammunitions room and the entire compound instantly went into high alert, every corridor and chamber instantly flooded with a red light. Thinking the base was under attack, pilots began scrambling towards their Mech Walkers; only to discover that the mass majority of them had been severely damaged by the explosion.
With the base in Chaos; Fang expected traversing it's interior to be difficult, when in actually he found it unbearably easy. One time he walked down a corridor with a security camera staring right at him and everyone was too busy trying to contain the fires in the ammunitions room to even notice.
With a wide smile on his face, he kicked the door to the base science labs open; ready to claim the final thing he needed in the compound. The science labs were a small collection of rooms with a lot of equipment stacked up against the walls, rows of tables sat directly in the middle of the room, a complex set of stuff on them that Fang didn't recognise.
His client had been very precise. He was looking for a burnt collection of machinery set apart by itself. Mostly blue, with a few starched grey pieces. Most of what was here was grey; but eventually the weasel managed to sight it. It was lying at the far end of the room, a long set of wires attaching it to a tall processing unit above.
Fang simply tore them off one by one and then lifted the burnt remains; finding he was looking directly in the face of the nearly destroyed Metal Sonic. So this was what his client had been so anxious to acquire? What could he possibly want with this robotic corpse? Well, whatever it was, was of no concern of the Weasel's so as long as his money was good.
He paused just long enough to bundle the remains into his backpack, began making a break for the exit with little to no intention of remaining to meet base security.
"Hold it right there!" A voice snapped as someone holding a large gun stepped into the doorway. He was on the ground a few seconds later after Fang smashed a kick into his stomach; making his drop his gun and double over. In an instant after that, Fang was gone.
"I followed Shadow's trail straight from the Chaos Control warp." Tikal explained once Sonic had gotten everyone together. Most of them said nothing, in awe only at the fact that the female Echidna was in their company again. Emerl, who had never seen Tikal before was only wondering how she had gotten on the ship without them noticing. "The warp exited in an unstable dimension currently in the midst of a civil war; it's a place called Maginary-World."
"Magin..wha?" Rouge began raising her eyebrows in amusement at the name.
"It was their queen who came up with the name." Tikal explained. "It's a plane of reality created by the consciousness of every sentient being in the universe. A giant calumniation of minds and ideas, making it constantly conflicting with itself. The beings who live there are powerful, they have to be in order to survive their homes laws of physics." She hesitated, seeing the vacant expressions on the many faces around her.
"Well that's simple enough." Sonic muttered sarcastically.
"I managed to locate Shadow's trail again once I got there; but it seems someone got to him before I did." That managed to recapture everyone's attention. "The Templars of that dimension are powerful, but one two of them have the means to interrupt a Chaos Control; and only one with the motive."
"Who?" Amy asked.
"His name is Void." Sonic and Tails cringed, remembering that name all well. At the end of the Emerald Grand Prix, the two of them along with Metal Knuckles, Eggman Chuck and Shadow had wound up in come crazy crystal dimension called Radiant Emerald. In order to escape they enlisted the help of the realms only inhabitant, a strange small imp like creature called Void. Tikal noticed their sudden worried looks.
"You know him?" She asked the two of them. The two shot each other nervous glances.
"Sort of." Sonic began. "We bumped into him in some weird place called Radiant Emerald." Tikal's eyes winded.
"You've actually been to Radiant Emerald?" She asked with a near shocked expression on her face. Tails nodded slowly. "That was a prison realm; once made to hold Void after he lost a battle in his home dimension. People who go there never come out."
"Well we managed it." Sonic began, flying into a hyped version of the escape from Radiant Emerald; making it sound even more perilous than Tails actually remembered it.
"So that's where you went." Amy began. "You never did explain that whole vanishing trick at the start of the race."
"I didn't?" Sonic asked, scratching the back of his head. "Must have slipped my mind." He added with a sheepish smile
"How can something like that slip your mind?" Knuckles asked looking stunned.
"Hey; this sort of thing happens to me one; two times a month." Was the flat reply. Tikal shook her head.
"Void took you a for a fool Sonic." She stated and the blue hedgehog looked slightly taken aback. "When you broke the sound barrier on the pinnacle of Radiant Emerald; you shattered the entire dimension and the restraints it held on Void. He tricked you into letting him out." In awe of his own stupidity, Sonic groaned and slapped his forehead. He hadn't trusted Void when he first met him, but he hadn't guessed that he was up to something like that.
"So what did this Void guy do to get him locked up in the first place?" Rouge asked, hoping to get all the details she could about this incredibly complex situation.
"I don't know exactly." Tikal admitted. "But whatever it was upset their queen as she herself imprisoned him there. After he escaped, he returned to Maginaryworld and has been waging a war against her ever since." That last statement didn't make the blue hedgehog feel any better. "I don't know what Void could be up to with Shadow, but the trail returns to this dimension again."
"Void's here?" Tails began. "Why? I thought you said he was busy fighting a war in that other place." Tikal sighed.
"I don't know." She admitted.
"So now we have to stop Eggman, stop Void from whatever he's doing and find Shadow." Rouge began wearily counting the tasks on her fingers. "Well we certainly won't be bored for the next few days."
"I will continue my search for Shadow." Tikal put in quickly. "Void's intentions will most probably become clear soon. You should concentrate on Eggman for the time being."
Without any warning what so ever; the entire Icarus shook violently as a missle impacted it's side, throwing it violently off course. Clearing the side of the asteroid the colossal form of the Egg Carrier 3 came flying out into the open; the large collection of turrets on it's underside aimed directly at them. That ship of Eggman's just seemed to get bigger each and every time they saw it, as if the scientist was adding another rocket or wing between battles. There was a twinkling of lights up from the side and a large pair of shutter doors pulled themselves open and out swarmed masses of Dreadnaughts. These robots and their jet packs were almost uniquely suited for space flight. Quickly they surrounded the Icarus, forming a thick wall of hostiles on either side; entrapping the ship in a tight circle.
"You honestly didn't believe I wasn't expecting you did you?" Eggman demanded; a large grin spreading from ear to ear as he watched their ship from the comfort of his own throne. "I've got you right where I want you, after all these years. His finger hovered impatiently above a button marked missile control.
Tails however reacted quickly, flipping open a panel on the control and hitting a large green button. Despite the space enhancements the Icarus had received, it still had the little surprise Chuck had built into it. The experimental rocket fuel Super Nitro poured through the engines, which turned bright green for an instantly before the ship was sent rocketing forward at an unthinkable speed, missing the missile fired by the Egg Carrier completely. Any Dreadnaughts unlucky enough to get in the way were pushed violently to the side, some of them ripped violently in half.
"Woah, this thing can really move!" Sonic exclaimed, watching the Egg Carrier shrink into the distance before Tails finally shut down high speed move and the stars around them spotted blurring. "We left Eggman eating our dust with that one." Sonic's statement may have been slightly premature.
Slamming his fist down on another button, Eggman activated cannon mode. While he had had no luck in duplicating the Eclipse Cannon twice, the Egg Carrier cannon was fully repaired and ready to fire, even if it's power was nowhere near it's previous levels. With a loud audible groan, the two halves of the Ships front pulled themselves aside to reveal a metallic spire aimed directly at the fleeing ship, bolts of chaos energy already dancing along its length as a steady glow began to built up into its core. Any Dreadnaught in the way pulled back behind the ship itself, having no desire to be caught in the way of its attack.
The energy gauges inside the ship began to fill before they glowed bright green, showing that the cannon was now at once hundred percent power. Entering the command confirm code, Eggman's sneer widened as he pressed the final button and the ship shook violently.
With an explosion of light that could be seen fro the planet below, a beam of red energy leapt forward, parting the earth's atmosphere at one point before cascading down towards the Icarus at the speed of light. Had it not been for the alarm at the last minute, Tails would have been able to push the ship's controls to the side. It was just enough to prevent their destruction, but not enough to save one of their wings. Torn of by the sheer force of the blast, the Icarus was sent into a spiral, spinning out of control into the depths of space.
On board alarms were blaring in everyone's ears as Tails desperately struggled to maintain control but failing miserably.
"It's no good, we're going to have to land!" He announced after the engines failed to respond for the fifth time.
"Where?" Knuckles demanded, thrown back into the co-pilots seat as the ship tilted forward again, the direction of gravity now to random to tell which way was down. Tails managed to stabilise the ship just enough for the targeting sensors to locate the Ark, which by sheer luck was not too far away, but without their engines they'd never make it there by themselves and attempting a re-entry without them was suicide.
"Sonic, little help?" He asked, looking back to the blue Hedgehog; who was already way ahead of him. Sonic didn't know if he could transport the entire ship through Chaos Control, but since it was the only option open to him he'd just have to go for it. He put himself in the doorway between the cockpit and the rest of the ship and took out of each side, his eyes already emitting a powerful green glow.
"BLAST!" Eggman growled, watching the Icarus on the Egg Carrier's long range sensors disappear in a flash of white light. A flash that could only have been caused by a Chaos Control warp. "Track that energy stream, I want to know exactly where they're going to turn up!" He shouted towards Decoe and Becoe, who saluted him before going to work almost violently over their consoles. "Attention theta, we have possible Hedgehog alert; remain on standby." Was the order the scientist barked down the com single to his personal elite robots; who was always ready to move out at a moments notice.
"Emersion point found sir." Becoe called up.
Sonic had never tired to move anything as big as the Icarus before; so it came as no big surprise to him that his exit from Chaos Control was less than perfect. The entire ship went flying out of the warp spiralling uncontrollably towards the Space Colony, a large chunk of the sail on its underside torn off. Tails struggled to keep it steady and all his efforts rewarded him was the Icarus crashed directly through one of the shuttle bays on the colonies underside.
The large shutter doors were blown off their hinges as the ship cascaded down through the bay, tearing up the floor before it came to a large wall on it's side, one of the wings catching itself on the edge; bringing the entire ship to a sudden stop.
The badniks Eggman had sent to guard the colony were already on en-route, a few scouts following the ship in through the large hole it had blown in the side of the colony. All they found when they got there was a large collection of smouldering metal lying across a near destroyed shuttle station. Not even Dreadnaughts could survive a crash like that. Just as they were about to report back to the doctor; a large sheet of Metal went flying off the side of the Icarus and out from amongst the flames came a large lumbering shape. Wide arms and short legs, two gun turrets already in full swing on each shoulder, a pair of round red eyes glowing brightly from just beyond the darkness.
A large foot came slamming down, extinguishing the fire before the air around them was filled instantly with missile fire. Even Eggman's latest robots were no match for the E100 prototype. He was by no means as fast as they were, but his large limbs contained far superior fire power. If that wasn't bad enough, as two badniks attempted to come at Omega from behind, a large metal fist came flying out of nowhere, landing a solid punch against one of them, which collided into the other. The metal fist spiralled through the air before returning to the wrist of it's owner. Emerl wasn't as heavily armed as Omega but his lighter design made him much faster.
"Destroy…" Came the flat emotionless command from the E100. Slamming their jets into reverse, the androids flew backwards fast to avoid a stream of bullets as Omega let them have it. Forcing them back out into space, beyond the confines of the colony itself; The E100 gave the other members of the crew a chance to make a break for it. Tikal had been knocked unconscious in the crash and Amy was carrying her over her shoulders. They were in the open here, Eggman could pick them all off one by one unless they got to cover and quickly.
"So far, this expedition is off to a bad start." Knuckles commented dryly as they retreated from the wreckage to a large door at the far end of the shuttle bay.
"You're not making very many friends with that attitude." Sonic snapped, more badniks coming down, fending of only by a steady stream of bullets from Omega. Once they were all inside, the door shut behind them.
"What about Emerl?" Cream asked, looking worried for a moment.
"He can handle himself." Rouge told her. "Right now we have to get to someplace we can regroup."
"How about that science lab we gathered in the last time we were here?" Tails asked, pulling down his goggles over his eyes as the sounds of battle from just beyond the metal door intensified. The place he was suggesting was a technicians lab they had watched Sonic and Shadow battle the Biolizard from.
"Fine, let's go."
ARK was just as dark as they remembered. Every corridor clad in shadows and deadly silent. This orbiting station had been the centre labs for Prof. Gerald Robotnik and his Bio-genetic research into creating the Ultimate life form.
Shadow stood in the doorway to a small room deep within the colony. Like the rest of the station, it was dark and only the light from the outside corridor penetrated the darkness. Taking a deep breath he entered, the familiar sights and even the smells after all this time coming back to him. The room was small and square, with a window overlooking the Earth at the far end; a small bed right next to it. What remained of the furniture lay rotting over the floors. On the bed itself sat the remains of a large teddy bear.
This was her room, he had been here many times before. In fact, he had been on his way here when the invasion of the ARK began. Or had he been? His memories of the past era had never been distinct, and that particular moment in time was clouded the most. Only brief images and sounds leaking through.
The rage her murder had left him with had gone by now; but the pain never left. He picked up the teddy bear. It was her favourite toy. She had been into her teens by that time, but she still kept it around. She said she liked the way it's eyes glinted when the ARK caught a glimpse of sunlight. The station was almost constantly in the Earth's shadow.
A small sound from behind him caught his attention and his whirled around, a chaos Spear lancing through the air at lightening speed, impacting the side of one of the Templar Angels who was trying to fire a silver arrow at him while his back was turned.
"Get off my Colony!" The lack hedgehog snarled, grabbing it by the wings and tossing it back over his shoulders towards several others who were trying a sneak attack.
Sonic blinked, sensing the familiar out burst of energy. Sensing energy patterns did not come as naturally to him a sit did to Shadow, but there was no mistaking that power signature.
"Shadow?" He asked himself. Almost in response the entire colony shook as someone fired off a multitude of Chaos Spear attacks. "Guys, you go one ahead, I've got something to do." Before anyone could argue with him, he vanished like a flash of green light.
"When we get back down to Earth remind me to kill him." Knuckles snarled. Without warning the wall in front of them burst open as a large metallic limb thrust itself towards. Tearing a hole into the corridor came one of Dr. Eggman's Dreadnaughts, over ten times a mobians size with limbs capable of crushing a car. As soon as it saw them, the two large missile pads on it's shoulders opened up. Knuckles darted forward and landed super strong punch against one of it's legs, It swayed there for a moment before toppling backwards.
But that wasn't the end of it, the ever omnipresent sound of laser gun fire was beginning to grow louder and louder and the distant shakings of the colony were becoming like earthquakes. Someone was giving the robots Eggman stationed on the colony a hard time.
"Hey look at that." Tails exclaimed, looking out through a window. Just above the ARK's surface it looked like a scene out of Star Wars. Laser fire was filling the air as Badniks and Dreadnaughts on the Colony itself opened far as two classing armies near the gapping hole where the Eclipse Cannon used to be.
They were all angels, or at least it looked like. One army was clad in silver armour and armed with swords, spears and bows while the others were dressed in armour that resembled natural crystal. The battle was spread over the entire width of the ARK's flat surface.
""Just what…" Amy began in astonishment. Tikal forced her eyes open, her head throbbing from the blow she had taken when the Icarus crashed. That attack by the Egg Carrier had caught them all by surprise. Looking out through the window, she saw what she half expected to see. Those angels in Silver armour were Templars, forces loyal to the ruler of Maginary World; Illumina and those others were rebels lead by Void himself.
Sonic came out of a Chaos Control Warp somewhere on the lower levels of the ARK. He could tell some heavy duty fighting was going down here, the entire colony was shaking.
"Just what is…" He began to himself and without a moments notice, a blast from a Chaos Spear came hurtling down the metal corridor, striking the wall nearby. From just beyond which came the sound of clashing metal before a limp form was sent flying backwards, landing with a square thump on the floor. Sonic rushed over to it instantly, finding to his surprise an angel with blood red wings. She had been wearing silver armour, most of which had been burnt off by some attack. She had also been graciously injured
"Just what do you think you're doing here?" A voice stated. Sonic looked up to see a familiar black hedgehog standing over him, the beginnings of a Chaos Spear attack already burning between his fingers. The black hedgehog demanded angrily.
"Shadow?" He began in surprise. The black hedgehog sneered, pushing past the blue hedgehog with an angry glare on his face.
"I don't have time for this." He remarked dryly, turning back to face the Angel, raising a hand ready to blast her limp form. Seeing his intent, Sonic darted forward and put himself in-between them both; acting as a barrier. "Get out of the way Sonic."
"Just what is going on here Shadow?" He demanded. "Can't you see she's already been beaten?" Shadow looked past the blue hedgehog to the beaten she- angel. Her armour was torn ragged and her blue hair burnt. A few cuts ran down the side of her arm and face, blood oozing out onto the floor. Apart from the wings and the strange lack of a nose she looked very human.
"You shouldn't be here, this isn't your fight." Shadow began, quelling the Chaos Spear and letting his arms drop to his sides. "Get off this colony before you get hurt."
"Not without some answers."
"Look Sonic, don't push me. I'm not in a good mood."
"And neither am I. Now either you tell me what's going on, or you and me got a problem." The two Hedgehogs stood facing each other with narrowing eyes, the tension in the air extremely high.
"If that's the way you want to play it Blue boy, then we do have a problem."
(In Chris' Voice)
Sonic Vs Shadow? What is going on? What are Void's plans, what's that big battle all about and why? And it gets more Chaotic next time as the Egg Carrier arrives on the scene. Find out what happens next time on Sonic X… The Battle Royal. Don't miss it!