Chapter 5
"Aye aye aye!" criess Shadow as he shivers slightly. "I hate this, damn it!"
"Damn it, Shadow!" shouts Red, stopping his exercise momentarily. "If you don't want to hear anymore stories then leave the room!"
"Yeah, Shadow, that was so freaking rude!" shouts Flare.
"What the hell? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BOTH TALKING ABOUT? I FELT A SHIVER IN MY BODY!" Sonic chuckles.
"Hey, calm down, Shadow." says Sonic, sitting Shadow down. "I'm pretty sure it was just a misunderstanding." Sonic pats Shadow on the back.
"Yeah, whatever. You know, I just remembered something."
"Really?" Sonic's ears perk up, hoping it was something about the ARK.
"Yeah, Flare, I remember hearing it twice that you are a clone of D.R.!" Sonic falls over.
"I guess he needs more time. Heh heh." he says with a sweat-drop. Flare sighs and looks down.
"I was about to get into that." Flare spoke softly as she looks down to the ground. "Though I'm ashamed to admit it, I am a clone of Dark Red." Everyone gasps except for Shadow, Red, and Sonic.
"Wow, ya learn something new everyday."
"But you act nothing like him! Or at least what I know of him." says Sonia.
"And you're a woman…" Manic says scratching his head.
"That's impossible." says N. "Even if you are a clone, it's hard to believe that you're still alive. Cloning was made illegal since it costs the country billions of dollars and it was a waste since clones either never lived more than 3 days; they always died as fetuses, or their age progression was so rapid that they'd collapse and become inert."
"I don't know about all of that but I was created in lab far in the arctic…"
Deep in the arctic, 10 years ago, long before anyone elses story.
Deep in the arctic, there is an unreachable facility in the frozen tundra. Inside, two scientists and their assistants stand around a surgeon table where D.R. lays strapped to and unconscious. Multitudes of armed guards patrol the building
"Interesting, so this is the legendary dark red hedgehog." says Dr. Matthew who is the male scientist.
"Gee, I wonder what kind of hell the hunters went through to catch him." said Dr. Robert, his assistant who has a strong Spanish accent. "I hope this is worth the trouble since they brought me all the way here from my country."
"Forget that." say Dr. Maria, an Italian scientist. "We're getting paid a nice hefty sum to do this experiment."
"There's more to science than just getting paid Maria." comments Dr. Linda who is from a different part of Station Square. "What did they do to him anyway? Shoot him with a tranquilizer?"
"Yeah, very powerful ones too. He'll be out for about a week if we keep reapplying them but there's also the possibility that it can wear off a lot sooner so let's hurry and get started. The other scientist nodded in agreement and they their experiment.
3 months later.
A very young light red hedgehog girl floats inside an incubator with preserving fluids with a breathing mask on as Dr. Matthew is on the phone speaking to someone.
"Yes sir, so far everything has been progressing very well so far,…yes, we still have the dark red hedgehog with us, we've been keeping him in a semi-conscious stage for months now and the feeding fluids are keeping hmi alive and well…yes, we did implant the gene and use the experimental egg you gave us but I warn you, sir, the clone will most likely live for only 72 hours…" He drops the phone and you can hear yelling on the other line. He slowly picks the phone back up. "I was just saying, sir, there is no need to yell. I'll out faith in your judgement. I'll release it now and give you a progress report in a couple of months, OK? Good-bye, sir." Matthew hangs up the phone. "Well, I guess I better release this. It'll be a shame if she dies instantly but it's not like we're workign for free either." Suddenly, the hedgehog opens her eyes and the tank bubbles up until the glass bursts and the liquids splashes everywhere. The hedgehog's body is encircled in a ball of fire. Matthew stares in awe. The hedgehog looks like she is in a trance.
"I'll-break-out-of-here-once-I recover-my-strength-at-full. The-ones-that-have-caught-me-with-a cheap-shot-from-behind-will-die-if-I-find- them." she mumbles and then shakes her head and vomits lava onto the floor. After she wiped her mouth she noticed the scientist and smiles. "Hi, a-are you my daddy?" Suddenly recovering from his fear, Matthew takes out a cloth and wipes his glasses with it.
"Uh…I guess if you put it technically, I am." He thought for a moment. "Wow, just coming to life and has already inherited speech, even though it's very slightly broken." He speaks to her again."So, how do you feel? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"N-no, I'm ok, although I did throw up but there's probably a technical reason for that."
"Heh. Such big words young lady."
"It's not my fault, I just know them. What's your name anyway?"
"I am Dr. Matthew Hawkson. It's nice to meet you."
"Ok, daddy, and what's my name?"
"Uh…judging by the way you burst into flames, I guess we can all agree to call you Flare."
"Flare?" Flare giggles. "That's a really cool name! Yay!" She jumps into Matthews arms.
"We still have some tests to run on you."
"Ok."
"And we'll have to get you some clothes. Though we are different species, we still have similar bodies so it'll be uncomfortable to have you walking around naked." They both shared a laugh.
Approximately 1 month and 4 weeks later.
Flare has now developed to look very similar to D.R.; serious-looking bronze-like eyes, quill shape and height but with a female body. She is acrobatically flipping from steel box to steel box while spitting out pieces of bullet shaped lava at targets. She's wearing blue denim shorts and a white tank top both of which fits her perfectly. She then looks at a tall block of ice and hurls fireballs at it which burns right through it leaving holes in it. Flare concentrates on it hard and flames began to appear under it until it melts completely and puts the flames out. The other scientists were watching through a glass from an observation room. Dr. Matthew is on the phone again.
"I'll have to admit that she's got some spunk." Maria comments. "Look at her go."
"The real surprise is that she's still alive and well!" exclaims Dr. Robert. "Where did you get the clothes anyway?"
"They were my old clothes from when I was younger, I don't believe in throwing away clothes just because I can't fit them anymore."
"Yes, the project didn't come out as expected but more uh…'unique'. No sir, it's not bad. Let's put it this way, the clone is alive and well but it's not the exact same as the dark red hedgehog. For example, it's a girl and she has light red-ack!" You can hear yelling on the other end. "Trust me, sir! It is not a deformity but she should still prove useful for whatever plans you have! …yes, I'll make sure to do my best keep him here. No…alright, see ya then." he hangs up the phone.
"Alright, that's enough." annouces Dr. Linda into a speaker that goes into the room where Flare is in. "We're all going on a lunch break, it's 1:15PM." The other scientist leaves the room as Flare enters, Maria rubs Flare's head as she leaves.
"I have a question." asked Flare to Matthew.
"Sure, what is it?" he replies.
"If I'm supposed to be a clone then why does everyone say I'm so different from the original? Aren't clones supposed to be the exact same thing?"
"That's a very intriguing question that we've been trying to figure out ourselves but it doesn't seem to make any sense. You seem to have came out as the almost exact opposite. For example, he's obviously a male and you're…"
"A girl!"
"You can control fire and lava as he controls water and ice. So in other words you are very unique."
"Cool."
"However, one thing that has us disturbed is your almost instantaneous development. You quickly went from egg to his exact shape and size in only a few months and haven't shown any signs fo deterioration. That's the only abnormality we found, aside from the reason you inherited his thoughts."
"So it's like we're one?"
"Not necessarily, you obtained his thoughts before the time of his capture; you have his exact ideas."
"His last thoughts were to be free and to break out of here as soon as he recovers."
"Yes, and personally I suspect you'll do the same thing."
"No, no I won't, I like it here."
"Flare. You will, it's embedded in you to do it."
"I'm serious, I won't!"
Suddenly, BBBBOOOOOMMMMM! With a terrible roar, something explodes and the alarms ring loudly across the facility.
"HOLY CRAP! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
"ALL SECURITY UNITS ASSEMBLE AT THE FIRST FLOOR SUBJECT ROOM IMMEDIATELY! WE HAVE A BREAK OUT AND ARE PUTTING THIS WHOLE FACILITY ON LOCK-DOWN! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" yells a commander over the loudspeakers. "ALL SCIENTIST REPORT THERE WITH ACTIVE TRANQUILIZERS!"
"Flare, stay here!" Matthew takes out a tranquilizer needle.
"I think I know what happened, let me come!" Matthew had left already so he didn't hear her. "No matter, I'll just follow! Heheh!" She leaves after him only to find the floor covered smoothly with ice. She trips over hard. "Ouch! I wonder who opened the door?" She looks up to see Matthew just turning the corner slowly while hanging onto the wall. She tries to run after him but trips and slides and suddenly gets an idea. She creates fireballs on her hands and slowly melts away the ices as she proceeds. She finally sees the subject room where dead guards are scattered across the floor and up against the wall. She watches a guard firing the room but someone is returning fire and eventually shoots the guard down. Flare decides to slide across to there.
Present.
"Well that was a stupid move." comments Shadow.
"I had to find out somehow! Blame my child-like curiosity." shouts Flare.
Back to the past.
"Be reasonable, Dark Red!" Flare hears Linda cry as she enters the room. Inside, D.R. has Maria by the back collar, hanging on the top of a large high tank, if he lets her fall it can spell death for her.
"Hmph! You humans kept me in a state tantamount to death and you expect me to be reasonable!?" growls D.R., enraged.
"Believe me, it wasn't our choice!"
"Nor mines. I don't recall you giving me a choice when you sent out those hunters to catch me!"
"It's not our fault. We ARE hired for this illegal project, ya know!" shouts Matthew who is behind him and lunges for the dark red hedgehog with his tranquilizer needle but D.R. reacts quickly and leaps on an overhead steel beam, at the same time he accidentally releases Maria and Matthew falls over with her. They both scream as they fall until Maria hits the ground head-first and a terrible CRACK! is heard, Matthew falls on top of her, breaking his fall. He gets off her quickly. "Hurry, she needs medical attention now!" The commander guard rushes to the scene with guards in tow and they begin firing inaccurate shots at the legendary hedgehog. D.R. retaliates by taking his Magnum out of its holster and charges it up with blue energy whilst aiming at the guard. "MAGNUM...!"
"EVERYONE, CLEAR THE AREA!" shouts the commander. All the guards, Linda and Flare quickly pull out.
"Wait, what about Dr. Maria?" asks Matthew.
"BANG...!" D.R. continues.
"It's too late now move!" shouts the commander Matthew and the commander run out.
"ATTACK!" shouts D.R., instead of firing where he was aiming, he jump back onto the tank and fires the ghostly blue blast through the ceiling creating a hole. He then leaps out of it and flees. Matthew lets out a sigh of relief.
"I thought he'd probably blast us. All right, we'll need an immediate investigation of the area. Spread out and assess the damage!" The commander and guards all slowly walk into the room.
"That was Dark Red, right?" Flare asks Matthew.
"Flare? What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in the room!"
"I'm sorry."
"Where's Dr. Robert?"
"I don't know."
Outside, Dr. Robert is escaping the facility on a snowmobile, he wears goggles and a heavy fur coat with a fuzzy-looking hat.
"I have a family, I can NOT go off and get myself killed!" he thinks to himself. "The ship should be about 4 miles from here if I remember correctly." Suddenly a red blur is speeding through the snow, heading towards him at abnormal speed. He looks back. "No! NOOOO!" The blur speeds through his snowmobile and launches off a mountain of ice and uncurls to reveal D.R. as he disappears over the mountain. Dr. Robert quickly halts to a stop. "Wow, he didn't even touch me." Suddenly, the vehicle began to shine. "Proven wrong. Sigh. My only regret is I didn't get to say goodbye to my f-!" BOOOOOM! The snowmobiles explodes into a big fireball, leaving no sign of the scientist whatsoever.
Inside, Matthew is talking to Flare.
"Look, Flare, you have to listen when I tell you something. Ok?"
"I don't know what came over me." she replies.
"The genes, it has to be. Flare, you and I both know that you'll want the same thing."
"No, I told you I'm not leaving! Hmph!" Flare storms off.
Back to the present.
"Unfortunately, I was wrong." says Flare, ashamed. "I couldn't fathom what came over me. It was like I lost all sense of myself and then..."
The next day, outside the facility.
Flare is breaking down crying on the snowy ground as the facility is now nothing but a huge burning fireball. Flare never knew she was so capable of such destruction. The thought fuels her tears even more. Suddenly, a huge red spaceship lands a distance away from Flare. A ramp appears and a man wearing goggles, a red hat and heavy red coat with black pants comes out and approaches Flare. Flare gets so surprised, she stops crying momentarily.
"I'm guessing that you're Flare?" the man asks. Flare nods. "Come with me, there's no longer a reason for you to be out here any longer." Flare gets up and follows the man onto the ship and the ramp closes behind them.
Back to the present.
"YOU DUMB ASS! IT COULD'VE BEEN AN ALIEN!" shouts Shadow at the top of his lungs.
"DEEP FREEZE!" shouts Red as he thrust his right hand to Shadow's mouth. When he removes his hand, Shadow's muzzle is frozen. "There's no need to shout all the time and you're being ridiculous! Shut your damn mouth and keep your freaking comments to yourself."
"Whoa." gasps Sonic with a smile and a sweat-drop. "So much negative energy." Shadow muffles something angry then is screaming until a green burst of energy flies out his mouth, shattering the ice. He looks at the ground in amazement.
"Interesting. I guess you do have chaos energy within you."
"That…was spicy." comments Shadow.
"Um…I think we can figure this out later but let me finish."
"Alright." Shadow shivers again. "Why does this keep happening?"
Back to the past, the space ship.
"Wow!" exclaims Flare as she looks out a large window. The water gleams beautifully against the afternoon sun.
"Flare, you should know, I am the one who paid for your creation so therefore you will soon join me on my conquest for the world!" announces the man while twisting his mustache.
"Whoa, are those fish?" she asks excited at the sight of dolphins hopping out of the water and not hearing a word he said.
"Waa!" The man falls over then gets back up to clear his throat. "Hmm, has she been...? No she hasn't, she must can't take her just yet. She must've destroyed that facility acting on Dark Red's will instead of hers... If that's true then she'll be useless to me until then."
"Wow, water is amazing, it's so pretty! I wonder how it feels."
"I doubt you'll like it. Flare, until you're ready you're ready I'll have to keep my distance from you. You'll repay soon enough."
Back to the present.
"He beamed me somewhere I don't recall but somehow I managed to find Station Square park." Flare continued.
"Twinkle Park?" Sonic asks as he jogs in place. Red is on the floor doing sit ups. Shadow is rubbing his muzzle.
"No, a different park…"
The past.
"My last thoughts say that Dark Red should be in Station Square but I don't see him. It just doesn't feel right that I would just destroy things for freedom. I mean, he did give me a chance to leave…I think…but I still don't know what came over me, I just suddenly wanted to rage out and kill! Does Dark Red really think like this? Maybe when I find him, everything will be clear to me." Flare thought to herself as she wandered around with her head down. Her stomach growls. "Oh man, I wish I had something to eat. Where I was, there was always food, tons of it! Now that I think about it, I don't have anywhere to sleep! AWWW!" CRACK! All of a sudden, Flare sees a flash and she is toppled on her behind with a black eye. (Shadow laughs so hard, he falls over.) "Hey!" A black hand offered to help Flare up, when she looks up she sees a black male cat with green eyes but black sclera about 13 years old wearing a red #50 jersey with black sports shorts.
"I'm so sorry but you should keep your head up. Come on, I'll help you up." he says. Flare took his hand and she is helped to her feet. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, a little headache but I'm fine."
"I'm called Rolla, I just moved around here a few weeks ago. This is my first time in the park." A dark gray cat about Flare's (or in her case, D.R.'s ) age comes from behind and tugs on his shorts, he is wearing the same thing. "Oh and this is my brother Riley, he's a shy mute so he can't really respond. I came to take him roller-skating so I better get going. What's your name?"
"It's Flare. I kinda just moved into the area myself, do you mind if I tag along?"
"Really? Cool, then you gotta keep up with us! HAHAHA!" He begins dashing of with his brother.
"We'll see!" she chases after them.
Present.
" I stayed the night with him and his family, which they were cool by the way. Then the next day, that's when I left in the afternoon and when Egg-Ass shows up."
Station Square park, the next day.
Flare is sitting on a nearby bench while Rolla and Riley are playing.
"He's pretty cute for a cat. Hee hee!" Flare thinks to herself as she sighs dreamily.
"Run!" shouts a random women then suddenly gun shots roar off in the distance and a whole crowd of people take off as Egg Robos flood the skies and begin shooting lasers that rained down on the crowd. Suddenly an Egg Robo turns and spots Rolla and shoots him in the leg before he has a chance to run.
"ROLLA!" Flare tries to run to him but the crowd is too strong for her and she keeps getting knocked around.
"Riley, run home NOOOOOW!" Riley takes off into the crowd! Immediately 3 different robots, which were hard to identify since all their backs faced Flare, surrounded him.
"NOOO!" She tries to reach out but the crowd is too strong for her. A tear rolls from her cheeks. An Egg Robo finally spots her and grabs her, she is too sadden to resist.
Present.
"And that's it..." says Flare with a sigh. "I never did see Rolla again after that, I'm not sure if he's alive or not."
"Wait." N says pointing at herself. "Don't forget about the part where we met."
"Right, it was only about 3 years or so back"
3 years ago, unknown factory underground.
"Work!" a robot shouts at Flare, who now looks much comparable to a 17 year old, she's angrily standing in front of a machine. "Warning level 1! Work now!" No budging came from the light red hedgehog, only growling and a look of defiance. "Warning level 2! Work immediately or your actions will be considered rebellious!" Flare slowly turns and glares at the robot still with no reply. "Warning level 3! Preparing a report now! You have 3 levels remaining before I am able to execute you! Work right now!"
"Shut up!"
"Talk back detected, a level is skipped! Warning level 5! Preparing arm cannon and rebel report! WORK IMMEDIATELY!" Flare sticks her middle finger in the robot's face. The other workers stopped to look.
"LAST WARNING LEVEL REACHED! INITIATION-!" Flare places her hand on the robot's head and releases fire into it until it explodes. The other commander bots face their attention to her and Flare takes off before they get to do anything. She reaches a room with a ladder and a manhole on top and hurries up the ladder and through the manhole. When she opens the cover, it's a sewer area. She gets out and runs for her life. Behind her she hears footsteps catching up to her, fast! She is too worn out from the exhaustion of climbing the ladder and trips.
"Damn it! G-go ahead and kill me then!" Someone tugs at her shirt. "KILL ME ALREADY AND GET IT OVER WITH! There's no point in living beyond this point anyway!"
"Come on! Run!" shouts a female voice. The footsteps pass her. "They're having trouble on the ladder! Haha!"
"Huh?"
"HURRY!" Flare finds a new spark of energy, gets up and dashes away. "Follow me." Flare follows the shadow through the dim damp halls of the sewer until she make an unsuspected stop in front of a slightly different colored wall. She presses a certain sequence on the wall and it opens. "In here." Flare and the woman enter and now she can finally see her face in the light to reveal her blue eyes, surprisingly smooth tan skin and long frizzy blonde hair which is very understandable nowadays, she's about in her mid 30's wearing a dirty white tank top with dirty blue jeans. Both of them are out of breath. "You're perfect! What's your name?"
"Perfect? What do you mean?"
"We need your kind to help us. It's a really huge job." Flare looks at her astounded.
"Exactly what is it you want me to do? No, as a matter of fact, what are you planning to do?"
"We were once part of a presidential agent group known as 'The Corporation' before we all found ourselves in this hell-hole of a situation. We're still searching for the president since we don't have any confirmation if he's alive or not even after all these years have passed."
"We?"
"Us." says a man who seemed to come from nowhere. He wears a light green Hawaiian shirt with a pair of blue jeans both surprisingly clean, he is pale white with dark brown eyes and straight short black hair. "We know that some of your kind has an important energy known as chaos energy and that they can control certain elements such as water or wind."
"What do you both have in mind?"
"We plan on taking on Eggman and we can't do it yet since humans don't stand much of a chance against his robot army without the right help."
"His reign has killed many innocent people and we cant allow it to continue!" says the woman.
"Namely he's been executing those whose he believe was once in alliance with Sonic."
"Why?" Flare asks with a hint of frustration in her voice. "Sonic is long dead, Knuckles is unreliable and went AWOL and Tails is has lost his spirit so he's a lost cause, how can anyone else be a threat?"
"It would seem he doesn't want anyone to ruin his 'perfect world'. I know so far he's publicly executed one of ours known as Rouge the Bat and someone known as Big the Cat... Maybe you've seen it on the news?" says the man.
"No, I get tired of seeing his mug all the time so I've been tuning it out for years."
"He claims it's to make examples but we think it has to be more than that. More like kill of every anthrop with power capable of opposing him. He must think he's a god; going around choosing who lives and who dies."
"That's not right, is this really our future? It's not right at all..."
"Will you join us?" asks the woman. We have enough food secured here to last for years and there's a bath in here."
"Of course, it's better than being enslaved by robots and fed crapsauce!"
"We never had a proper introduction I am Nancy Auburn." she shakes Flare's hand.
"And I'm Tommy Stevens" says the man as he shakes Flare's hand.
"And I'm Flare…I don't have a last name."
"When we're not in here we're usually out finding recruits."
"I see, I can help with that!"
The Present.
"How exactly did you follow me anyway, N?" Flare asks her.
"I was in the same room as you, pretending to be a worker. I was going to ask someone else for help but then I saw you aggravating the robot. It really surprised me when you blew its head off. I ran after you when you ran. The hilarious part was the robots couldn't climb the ladder." says N as she laughs. "Your speed has improved now than from before. I caught up to you at the time but now I couldn't catch up to you when you saw Shadow fall from the sky."
"Don't remind me!" Shadow exclaims.
"Well, I guess that's everyone!" say Sonic.
Now the story continues on Dark Future.