Chapter Twenty
"Well…here we are again…the city owned by that cretin Vector," Shadow said as they neared the city limits around late afternoon. "We need to keep quiet and stay out of the main areas…Vector could very well expect us. Thank heavens that Rouge doesn't live in a major part of this place."
"What about Miko?" Tsuko asked. "We need to find him, right?"
"We'll get to him…" Shadow replied, "I just need to visit for a little while…you guys can hide in the alleys if you want." Shadow poked around a corner, and dashed into a nearby alleyway.
"He can go socialize…Omega and I will search for Miko," Metal Sonic said. He handed Amy a small radio. "We'll contact you on this…" Metal Sonic and Omega then sped off to find the fox.
Amy pocketed the radio. "I'm up for meeting Shadow's niece," Amy replied. "I'm sure she's a nice girl…besides, I haven't been in a real home for so long." Shadow waved her over and she followed.
"I'd like to meet with a friend of my own," Espio said. "I'll meet up with you guys later." Espio quickly phased into invisibility and took off in another direction.
"I gotta get me some of that great food Rouge made!" Tsuko said, and quickly followed Shadow.
Cadmus shrugged and followed the rest.
-- -- -- -- -- --
"I'll get it!" Crimsa yelled to her mother when she heard a knock on the door. She peeked into the viewing hole, and squealed with glee when she saw who it was. She opened the door.
"Uncle Shadow!" she squealed and lovingly hugged the ebon hedgehog. "I missed you! How are ya?"
Shadow nudged his way into the room, to let the others in. Rouge came in, and she was delighted to see her old friends again.
"It's nice to see you too, Crimsa." Shadow grunted as he tried to pry his 'niece' off of him. Eventually she relented, and soon went over to meet the others.
"This is your niece, Shadow? She seems a little younger than Amy!" Tsuko commented.
Amy didn't respond to this, but did admit…she did appear to be only twenty or so years old. "So…you're Rouge's daughter, huh?" she said to Crimsa. "You're the spitting image of her…"
"People always say that…" Crimsa replied before turning to Tsuko. "So you're the jungle hedgehog who likes Mom's cooking! You're cute."
"Sorry, kid…I'm taken." Tsuko said. "But I do admit, Rouge…your daughter is as wonderful as Shadow said she was…so far…except she's a lot less shy."
"That's because she didn't have a boyfriend until recently," Rouge replied.
"Boyfriend! Miko's just a friend! How many times do I…"
"Miko? Miko Prower?" Cadmus inquired. "Do you know where he lives?"
"Why are you so interested in Miko?" Crimsa asked, putting her hands on her hips. "It's like he's vital to save the world or something."
The whole room was silent for a minute.
Crimsa couldn't help but find this funny. "I've seen this situation before…this is right out of those console role-playing games!" she said. "When someone mentions a person they need to find, the whole room goes silent."
"You've raised a sharp kid, Rouge…" Shadow finally said, chuckling. "Yeah…you hit the nail on the head, Crimsa. But I didn't come over here for that."
"Stick around for a week or two, and you'll meet him face to face." Rouge said. "I've never met him either…but enough, sit down, chat…isn't that what you came for? Tell me what's been happening all this time!"
Amy, Crimsa and Tsuko sat down on three of the chairs, while the others remained standing. Rouge went into her kitchen to whip up some drinks. She soon returned with a large bottle of soda and several glasses. She poured herself a glass and sat down on the remaining chair.
"So…what's been going on? I'm in the mood for an interesting story."
Amy began, with much anxiety "Well…I'm not sure how to say this, but…I'm not the real Amy."
Rouge gave a look of perplexity. "What are you talking about? You're Amy, I can tell. You walk like her, talk like her…"
"Does the word clone ring a bell?" Shadow interjected. "On a more positive note…" he stopped there and grinned a little. Rouge gasped.
"No! That's not possible! You and Amy…"
"Yep," Amy chimed in. "I'm over Sonic for good…besides; you can't love a dead guy…especially one who was evil…"
"I thought Sonic was a good guy, Mom…" Crimsa said.
"She doesn't know about the Angel Incident, did we?" Amy said. "Maybe we should tell them…Tails told me."
"Angel Incident? What was that? Sounded like it was major," Cadmus said.
"I guess there is no hiding it any longer." Shadow said. He nodded to Amy, who got out of her chair. He stood up and began his long tale…
-- -- -- -- -- --
"Eggman! I don't know what you're planning to do with that super weapon of yours, but it won't work!" Sonic yelled as he, Knuckles and Tails once again faced off against the fiendish Doctor Robotnik, on one of his immense battleships.
"You fools! This time I WILL be victorious!" the mad scientist bellowed into his microphone. "Ready all cannons! Open fire!" A rain of bullets, lasers and plasma coursed toward Team Sonic, who immediately went on the charge.
The three heroes dashed, flew and glided their way across the platforms, effortless pounding dozens of robots and cannons into scrap.
Eventually, they reached the core of the ship and the main cannon.
Sonic rubbed his chin as he looked at the massive weapon. "So this is Eggman's ultimate weapon. It's the biggest he's made, that's for sure."
Knuckles pounded his fists together. "I don't care how big it is…we can still smash this thing no problem! Let's get to work!" Knuckles bashed the door down, catching many robots by surprise. He immediately leapt toward one, and commenced to smash it with glee.
"Hey! Save some for me, Knux!" Sonic yelled as he came in. Tails came in a little more cautiously.
"We have to find the power source, guys!" he yelled.
"As soon as we take care of these guys, we'll find it," Sonic yelled back as he landed from another homing attack. Tails shrugged and joined the frantic melee.
Several minutes later, Team Sonic looked over the destruction they had wreaked.
"I think that takes care of the robots. Now for the power source…"
"It's in this chamber, guys." Tails said, pointing to a large metal door.
"Gimme a few minutes, and I'll have it down," Knuckles said as he walked up to the door. He then began to smash it with his fists with incredible force. In less than five minutes, the door fell. Within the chamber were all sorts of wires and cables, all connected to a single diamond-coated glass case, which contained a strange egg-shaped object. Sonic and Knuckles' eyes widened…the sheer beauty of the object was entrancing…both had to have it. Tails, on the other hand, thought he heard sinister whispers in the air.
"I'll take it…" Sonic said as he walked up to the case. With a few swift kicks, the case broke, and he started to pick up the object, but Knuckles grabbed it too.
"Oh, no…I'll take this treasure," Knuckles replied, slightly annoyed. "A treasure-hunter such as me can better appreciate such a beautiful object."
"I saw it first!" Sonic yelled, trying to pull it out of the echidnas' hands. But Knuckles would not relent, and he began to tug as well. As the two began to pull and squabble, the dark whispers in Tails' mind got louder and louder. They became clearer in his mind as well…
"Ku-on mey ish-tay lavos ku…avraz yurnah disvan Geyddon…" the whispers repeated. The struggle between the two friends seemed too much for the egg, and it split clean in half…and each half melted into Sonic and Knuckles' bodies, though neither realized it. Tails didn't notice either…
"Great! We broke it!" Sonic cried. "This is all your fault, you idiot!"
"Me? You started it!" Knuckles retorted.
Tails tried to calm the two friends down. "Guys, stop! This is no time to fight!"
Sonic turned his back to Knuckles and turned his head up. "I'm not working with HIM anymore! He's a clumsy nitwit!"
Knuckles did the same to Sonic. "That goes double for me! C'mon, Tails…let's go…blue boy is obviously too incompetent to be our leader."
"Hey! He was my friend first!" Sonic yelled. "Tails, get over here!"
"If this is the way you're going to act…I'm not going with either of you." Tails replied, and started out.
"Hold on a second, you two…how do you know all this?" Rouge interrupted. "You weren't even there!"
"Tails told us the whole thing," Amy replied. "Anyway…"
"Dang it, where is that Sonic! He promised to meet me here hours ago!" Amy sighed as she was sitting on a bench in the city park. Sonic had promised to meet her there…this was the first time she and Sonic were going out together. Soon enough, Sonic came screeching down the paved walkway, leaving a steaming skid mark.
"Sorry I'm late Amy…that crazy Robotnik was at it again," Sonic said, "I'm getting tired of the whole saving-the-world thing."
"It's what you do best…except run of course. So, what's on the agenda for a little romantic afternoon together?" Amy got closer to him, and tickled him under his chin.
Sonic pushed it away hard, and looked away. "I dunno…I never got around to that. We'll just wing it, okay!"
Amy was intrigued about Sonic's sudden frustrated behavior. "Something wrong, Sonikku? You seem really agitated."
"It's only because I had to drag along that lard-brain, Knuckles, along," Sonic replied. "I don't know why we're even friends! He's a jerk."
Amy was astonished at this comment. "Aren't you, like, really good buddies? You sound like he did something really bad."
"It's nothing YOU'D care about." Sonic replied indignantly. "Look, can we get this date over with?"
"On the phone, you seemed so excited…"
"I've had a bad day, Amy…gah! Just…go away…I'm not in the mood anymore."
"Sonic…"
"I SAID GO AWAY!" Sonic screamed as he belted Amy in the face, knocking her down. He stormed off, leaving the girl to wonder what had become of her darling Sonic.
"Knuckles acted the same way with me," Rouge commented. "You pretty much took the words out of my mouth…"
"Wow…getting smacked in the face like that…harsh." Tsuko said.
"It got worse…" Amy replied. "He eventually tossed me off a cliff…and now I'm in this body"
"He WHAT?" Cadmus inquired. "That's sick!"
"But Uncle Shadow…what happened on that day…the day of the incident?" Crimsa asked.
"I'm getting to that…" Shadow replied.
"Sonic! How could you do that! You freaking killed Amy!" Shadow yelled into the receiver of his phone three days after Amy's "death".
Sonic was equally agitated. "What? She was an annoying pest! I tried everything, but she wouldn't stop bothering me!"
"That's still no reason to toss her off a cliff! I heard you laugh! Sonic…you've lost your mind…no wonder Knuckles hates you…"
A beep came from Shadow's end. Without notifying Sonic, he changed lines.
"Talk to me…" he said.
"Shadow…we've got major problems…Knuckles has gone completely berserk! He's completely wrecked Angel Island, taken the Chaos Emeralds and now he's headed in Sonic's direction…not only that, he…looks a lot different…he's grown big, crystal wings…"
"Oh crud…they've both lost it…"
"It gets worse…not only have they gotten crazier, but they've gotten more powerful…and they're going to use it to kill their enemy…at any cost. At their current energy…they could very well wipe out hundreds of miles and kill thousands!"
"What are you going to do about it?"
"I can't do anything…I can barely move right now…Knuckles just waltzed in here and smashed me…I think he broke a few bones…"
Shadow suddenly stopped talking…he looked out of his apartment window to see two winged figures. Quickly, he ran on the roof to get a better look. When he did, there were Sonic and Knuckles, flying there, cursing at each other. Finally, Sonic rushed forward, delivering a powerful flying kick to Knuckles. Soon it was a ferocious melee, each sending the other into different buildings, making gaping holes or dropping the building entirely…with people still inside.
Shadow tried to get the two to stop, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. His shock was too much. He knew only one thing to do…he had to run. And ran he did. But it seemed too late…a wayward energy blast hit nearby, sending the ebon hedgehog soaring. Shadow had landed in the forest several miles away, and made a home there.
"Wow…what a story…" Crimsa exclaimed.
"This next part relates to you, Crimsa…" Shadow said.
A year later he returned to the ruined city, hoping to find a sign of his friends. Shrouded only in a brown cloak, he wandered the streets. After several days he found his friend Rouge, walking to work with some difficulty…because she was eight months pregnant. He followed her until they were in a safer place. Then he revealed himself.
"Rouge…what the…"
"Shadow? You're…alive?"
"Rouge…you're…"
"Pregnant? Yeah…I can't believe I was so stupid…I should have known better!"
"You were…"
"You mean…Dad…he…" Crimsa stammered.
"Yes…but that's in the past…I still love you all the same."
"I don't care that she's my mistake…I'm going to raise her on my own, Shadow." Rouge said when Shadow visited her a few days after her daughter was born.
"Rouge…you can't go through with it…put her up for adoption…you don't have a job…what makes you think you can raise a girl when you can't get food or pay rent?"
"I'll find work…"
Rouge was now starting to tear up. "I was so lucky, Crimsa…Mario was in desperate need of waitresses, so he hired me for decent pay…it's enough to keep this house stocked with food; and to pay the rent…"
"Mom…please don't cry now;" Crimsa said to her mother, then turned back to Shadow. Rouge pulled back her tears. "So…I exist because of this 'Angel Incident'? Creepy."
-- -- -- -- -- --
"What do you two mechanical monsters want with me?" Miko said anxiously when he found himself face to face with Metal Sonic and Omega. "Weren't you Robotnik's flunkies?"
"We are in need of you…" Omega began.
"If you're working for Vector, then no sale. I'm fighting against him."
"Negative. We were sent by your cousin, Tails. He reprogrammed us…and he wants to give you this." Omega reached into his compartment and pulled out the small yellow gem, and presented it to him.
"A gift from the beyond…" Metal Sonic said. "…everything pertaining to the situation will be known to you when you hold this jewel…go ahead…take it."
Miko pensively took the gem from Omega. It immediately buried into his hand, with surprisingly little pain, but the feeling was weird. He stood there blankly for a minute or two.
"Come in, Amy…this is Omega…we've located the target. Awaiting further command."
"Omega?" Amy said as she talked into the radio? "You found him! Great! Get him over here! Just track the signal."
"Affirmative," Omega replied.
"Come, Miko…it's time to meet your new allies," Metal Sonic said as he turned to go.
"I better contact my unit first…"
"Unit?" Omega asked.
"Never mind."