Chapter 21

Spectacle Reptile

The four remaining characters ran a distance before Mona spotted a rail which was suspended from the ceiling.

"Quick! Grab on!" She shouted before gripping it suddenly wishing she had gloves at this point. The rail stopped and the four were flung down into a room where energy was emitting from the walls.

"We must be near the center." Shadow observed. "Where do we go now?" Mona looked around before spotting a trail of water on the floor and a water based robot.

"EVERYBODY JUMP!" She shouted. The echidna and two hedgehogs leapt into the air and Mona sent a trail of electricity at the line of robots which were destroyed. The electricity died down and Mona looked at the sword as the handle got warmer before sheathing it. "The emeralds are getting more powerful. We have to get moving!" The three others landed and followed her. On the way they had to get through water robots and strong rapids that forced them back a ways before Mona had them jump repeatedly.

They finally got away from the robots before almost tripping over each other as they reached a dead end. Worse off, they were positioned over a waterfall of sorts.

"Great…I'm stuck…" Mona groaned.

"What's wrong? There's got to be a way right?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, the water is moving at a fast rate but we can't swim that fast and only Sonic and Shadow can get through this by using a homing attack repeatedly." Mona explained.

"Shadow, can you do something?" Sonic asked.

"Just one…everyone hold on." Shadow said. Everyone gripped him in a worried manner. "I'm not going to jump you idiots…CHAOS CONTROL!" All time stopped including the water.

"Wow! Nice work Shadow." Mona smiled.

"You two start swimming!" Shadow warned. "It won't last long!" Mona and Knuckles nodded before swimming up the waterfall and waiting at the other side. Sonic and Shadow jumped and landed next to them just as the Chaos Control wore off. The water started accelerating and Mona's eye twitched as she and Shadow looked at each other.

"I'm too young for this… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mona shouted as the four slipped and went through a very-very long channel. Mona frantically tried to control the direction she was swimming as she dodged loose debris, Shadow coincidentally swallowed some water, Knuckles kept a squeamish grip on the Master Emerald, and Sonic was trying to stay at the surface. The four found the waterslide stopped suddenly before being suspended in the air for a moment.

"Why does this remind me of a cartoon I watched?" Mona asked nobody in particular before they fell into the shallow water below. They surfaced and stood up revealing they were extremely soaked before running onto a dry area. Mona squeezed as much water as she could out of her hair. "That was fun…"

"I'll never go to a fun park again…" Sonic grimaced as he tried to empty water from his shoe. "AAAUCK!" He coughed water out as some that was soaked in his shoe came splashing out.

Shadow was in another area spitting the water out and shaking a lot more out of his fur.

"I think the water I was bio-engineered in was a lot cleaner than this..." Shadow remarked. "Gerald never told me we recycled our drinking water!"

This water stinks! I'm going to have to take a long shower after this! Shadow mentally ranted. GROSS!!!

Mona looked at him before turning to Sonic and Knuckles.

"Okay…whoever was talking to me has got to be any one of these three. But whom?" She thought.

"At least we got here in time." Knuckles said as he inspected the Master Emerald.

"Okay guys! Follow me!" Mona announced before the four ran towards what seemed like the Shrine of the Master Emerald.

"All you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, shall feel my loss and despair!" Professor Gerald's voice boomed as Mona noticed the huge container above the shrine before grabbing the Search Glasses and scanning the pod.

"Guys! The Bio-Lizard's waking up from its dormant stage!" She shouted fearfully as a flash of light blinded them for a moment and the ground shook. The light dimmed and the group stared straight at a huge lizard creature with a life support system on its back. "Holy cheese and crackers…" Mona gawked as she tried not to curse.

"Isn't that the ultimate life which was supposed to be encapsulated?" Knuckles asked. Sonic didn't respond but stared awestruck at it.

"It's just a mistake…" Shadow remarked as he stepped forwards.

"Shadow? What are you doing?" Mona asked a bit fearfully.

"I'll handle this! You guys stop those Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow explained before the other three sped off. Sonic and Knuckles worked on trying to fit the Master Emerald in place while Mona watched Shadow battle the prototype.

"GO SHADOW GO!" She cheered. "YOU CAN DO IT!!"

Shadow kept his focus but slightly looked towards her. A few hours ago she said she hated him, but now she was on his side? Shadow dodged an attack before coming to one conclusion at the fifth strike to the life support: "She still doesn't know I was talking to her back there before this madness started. I should've said something. But no!!! I just had to aid Eggman!"

"That's one obsessed fan-girl." Knuckles muttered.

"I heard that!" Mona responded bitterly. Sonic concealed his smirks before all three saw the Bio-Lizard wave its head about summoning more pink orbs and causing Shadow to float up in the air and frantically dodge the energy orbs.

"Not good…" Shadow saw he was positioned in front of the lizard which was staring at him emotionlessly with its mouth wide open. "Uh…help?!"

Mona looked at the lizard and suddenly gripped her sword with fire in her eyes and clenched her teeth.

"Oh no…not this time…in fact…"

"Mona…what are you doing?!" Knuckles asked before Mona leapt up in the air with the sword poised.

"HOLY COW! SHE'S ACTUALLY GOING TO…!" Sonic's jaw dropped. Shadow's eye just twitched.

"Huh?!?!?!?!?" Shadow's jaw almost dropped. "The human's gone crazy!!!"

"DIE YOU STUPID LIZARD! DIE!!!!!!!!" Mona shouted as the energy from the Chaos Emeralds somehow channeled into the sword before it plunged into the life-support system. The Bio-Lizard thrashed about in pain causing the orbs to vanish and Shadow crashed on the ground before sprinting away from the huge form which landed with a sickening crash on the ground. The three Mobians stared awestruck at the girl who wedged the sword out and sheathed it.

"I cannot believe it…I actually helped beat the prototype!" She thought.

"Hmm…I think you've evolved from a kitten and became a wildcat. No…more of a jaguar that's for sure…" Shadow smirked as Mona cautiously jumped down. He walked towards her.

"Nice one Mona…" He said.

"Well, that thing just ticked me off." Mona responded with a shrug.

"Thanks, but you'd better watch yourself. You looked like a ticked off wildcat when you attacked it." Shadow smirked.

"I, uh, I just had to help out. Guess my anger caught up with me. It…erm…happens whenever I see one of my friends in trouble." She explained quickly. Shadow couldn't help staring at her.

"I…I'm your friend?"

"Why not? We all think differently, but we did save the world didn't we?" Mona smiled as Knuckles had the Master Emerald stop the excess energy from the Chaos Emeralds. "And you saved me a couple of times."

"So you were right about Maria wanting this to happen." Shadow smiled. Mona smiled back before a rushing of water caught their attention and they gasped in shock. The Bio-Lizard wasn't finished yet…

-----

Shadow: We're almost there right?

Almost…

Sonic: Hey guys! Check this out!!

Sonic?!

Shadow: What are you doing with that cardboard box with a Chaos drive under it?!

Sonic: I'm going to catch the Bio-Lizard!

(((THOOM!!!)))

Imperfection/Shadow: OO;

Sonic: Uh oh…I think I need a bigger box.

AND IIIII'M…GETTING OUTTA HERE! (Runs)

Shadow: WAIT FOR ME!! (Runs after Imperfection)
Bio-Lizard: GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

R&R before we get eaten!!