-Sonic-
"All right!" I say. Finally! We've got all the Emeralds! "Now all we've gotta do is get out of here!"
"Then what, Sonic?" Tails asks. "We have all of the Chaos Emeralds." He sounds doubtful, like he doesn't really know if I can do this or not, like... like he doesn't believe in me so much any more. That hurts, more than I want to admit. Tails has always believed in me, despite how totally crazy some of the things I've done have been. He always trusted me absolutely, no matter what. Having him sound like that, with everything that's been happening... I don't need Tails doubting me, not now! I can do this!
"Then we get the seventh back!"
For once, I can't feel as confident as I sound, but I won't let them see that. I push my own doubts to the back of my mind. It doesn't matter what I've been thinking I see, or whatever Blaze has to say – and it's none of his business anyway – I can do this!
"Sonic, how exactly are we going to do that?" It's Amy... and it doesn't sound like she completely trusts me, either. Up until now, she's accepted that I knew what I was doing, done whatever I said. Why can't they just listen to me for a little while longer? After all this is over, they can think whatever they want, but right now, I need them!
"The last Emerald – you guys have had it all this time! I can't believe you haven't noticed it!"
"What do you mean?"
"Right there! Just look at them!"
I spin around to point at Blaze and Crossfire, standing next to each other, their eyes, the blue of the lost Emerald, almost glowing with its power. The more Chaos Emeralds we've found, the more obvious it's got, until I started wondering if Amy and the others were all blind! Everyone's staring at them, except for Knuckles, and it actually looks kinda funny.
"So..."
That low voice freezes the grin right off my face. As cold and dangerous as anything I've ever heard, it takes me a moment to place it, match it to Emerald blue eyes filled with hatred and fury.
"I could destroy him..."
I don't know quite who he's talking about – Eggman? – but it sounds like Crossfire's going crazy! I know he's got the negative side of the Emerald's power, but he's hung on for years, so why's he snapping now? His body seems filled with a tense, crackling power just waiting to be unleashed, a fury that will fill the world if I don't stop him first! I step forward, hardly even aware that I am, ready to try and stop him, when a voice cuts between us.
"No."
What – Knuckles? What does he think he's doing!
"You can't stop me, Guardian," Crossfire answers, still every bit as cold.
"I can," Knuckles says, his voice calm, sounding strange against Crossfire's, "and I will. The Master Emerald has the power to control the Chaos Emeralds. You know that."
Crossfire glares at him, but says nothing. He's really backing down? I didn't think Knuckles would be able to keep him under control like that, but I guess he does have the Master Emerald. No time to think too much about that, though; I've got to get us out of here so we can restore that Emerald and put an end to all of this!
"Come on," I say, beckoning the others, and without looking back, I run on. Time to get moving! Once I get that Emerald back, I'll blow this place, so I can't leave everyone else in here when I do!
But, somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm a lot more worried than I let on. Everything I've been seeing, and now everything Blaze said – what if he's right? And just what did happen to that robot anyway?
Warned by an instinct I can't name, I look to my right just in time to see it headed straight for me! I jump, and it flies by underneath, slowing and turning to stop only a little way away. I stare into my own face reflected in blue and silver, my eyes reflected in red, and I remember...
And the next thing I know I'm flat on my back, halfway across the room! My chest hurts, but I get up, speeding up as I do, the whole world slowing down around me. There's that robot, just over there, standing and looking at me! I snap into motion, kicking off from the ground, from the air, curling into a ball and letting my natural energy slice through the air ahead as I spin, letting me track the robot as it moves to the side, every bit as fast as I can. All that exists for me right now is myself and the robot, and the space between us, a space I'm closing until it pulls away with a sharp twist, breaking my lock and forcing me to drop to the floor to reorient myself. In that instant, it rebounds from a wall, coming right at me, but we're both moving at the same speeds, and I jump up and left, letting it pass me by again. While it's still slowing to stop, I go after it, diving into a spin that'll shatter most robots, feel myself slam into it, uncurl and stand up to see it against the wall on the other side of the room. It's damaged, but not destroyed, and as I run towards it, it comes right for me – but I'm ready this time. I jump, spinning as I do, far too fast to see, and the robot and I rebound from one another. I land a little way off, facing it.
This world isn't big enough for both of us. One of us has to go.
For an instant, I see myself somewhere else, standing in the cold, looking into my own face reflected in chill metal, ready for what we both intended to be the final showdown. But I'm the only one who sees that, the only one still alive, and this metal ghost only takes advantage of my pause. In the moment I'm frozen, it's still moving, and it hits me just as I see the room around me again! I try to get up, only to be knocked flat, because it's moving just as fast as I can and the impact shocked me enough to slow me down! I try again, but every time, it knocks me down, and I'm beginning to think I'll be here until it kills me when I hear a smash and feel... nothing?
"Sonic!"
Tails? I open my eyes, force myself to my feet. Tails is standing next to me, looking worried. I turn around, a little painfully, to see Shadow fighting that robot. He must have got it off me...
Looking at them, I see Metal. First on one side, then the other, in the robot's form, in Shadow's eyes and arm. In the same way I always did, meeting Shadow, my equal and opposite, the only person who could equal my speed. My rival, but one who could have been a friend, who became a friend. Who I thought died, like Metal did so long ago, refusing to let me save him. Who came back...
Why can't I stop thinking about Metal? Blaze said I had to face him, but I don't even know how! He said... he said that if I didn't stop running, it would destroy me. Is that it? I've always turned my back on my past. It's the past; I can't do anything about it and there's no real point thinking about it. But it won't leave me alone now... somehow, I've gotta get it out of my way!
I shake my head and force the images aside. Shadow is Shadow, nobody else, and that robot is just a robot. Metal's dead – the robot looks like him, but it isn't, and Shadow might remind me of him, but he isn't either! Yet no matter how I try to deny them, the memories keep coming back. What else can I do?
"Sonic? Are you okay?"
I look at Tails with a little relief.
"You just spaced out there for a moment," he says, watching me worriedly.
"It's okay, Tails. I'm fine," I tell him. I'll be just fine. Whatever this is, I'll deal with it!
A loud crash makes me look back at Shadow and- and the robot. One of them's just gone through the wall! I dash through after them – and skid to a halt. The room through here must house the power generators for this base, or something like that, and it's huge! I'm standing on a ledge that looks like it runs all the way around, a railing at the edge stopping things from falling off. Shadow and the robot are fighting in the middle of the room, Shadow's jets keeping him up. As I watch, they hit one of the generators, and there's an explosion! Shadow jets out and lands on his feet right next to me. He seems pretty much okay, just looking back at the cloud of smoke, so I watch it too. If that robot survived that, it'll be coming out any time now.
I watch the smoke clear. Doesn't seem like there's anything there, just the broken generator. Guess that finished it off. I turn to go, Shadow right behind me – then stop, spinning around, because I'm sure I heard something, and I did! The robot's back, badly damaged but still moving, and it's right behind him!
"Shadow!"
I've barely even started to speak when it moves, grabbing his arm and jerking him back over the railing. Shadow grabs it, stopping himself being pulled away, but it hits him with its free hand, dazing him enough to make him let go! If I don't do something right now, it's going to kill him! That generator they hit earlier is crackling with electricity, and by the look of it, that's what it's aiming for! I jump forwards, grabbing the top of the rail with my left hand and vaulting right over it, catch Shadow's wrist with my right, and hang on! Shadow locks his hand around my wrist, too. The robot tries to pull him away, switching its grip to one of his legs, but there's no way I'm going to let go, and it can't reach past him to make me!
The railing creaks. It wasn't meant for this kind of strain! I look back just in time to see part of it pull free. Me, Shadow, and the robot all jerk forwards, and my hand starts slipping along the rail! We stop again as my hand hits a vertical bar, but the railing's now broken on one side and peeling away from the ledge on the other. Another bar gives out, and I'm jerked forward again, but I'm not going to let go! I won't let Shadow die! Maybe, if I can just let go of the railing, I could flip around and attack that thing – it looks like it would only take one good hit to destroy it!
"Sonic!"
Something grabs my wrist, two hands hanging on. It's Tails, has to be him. Why couldn't he have been a few seconds later? I could have let go, swung round, and hit that robot before it got us anywhere near the generator! Now what am I going to do?
I'm holding onto a narrow ledge. Knuckles grabs me, and I strain against him, but he's pretty strong and I'm exhausted. I reach out anyway, trying to get just that little bit further. Our hands almost meet, both of us reaching out to one another – and then you knock my hand away! You tell me there can only be one of us, and all I can do is watch as you die, feel part of my mind vanish into death.
I snap back into the present again, still holding onto Shadow, still holding the railing, still with Tails hanging onto me.
In outer space, I reach out. I know I can get us both back to the ARK, but only if you help me. I'm worn out, and so are you. If we don't head back now, we'll never make it. Your hand lifts, slowly, and just for a moment, I think it's going to work this time. But you press your bracelet into my hand and let yours fall, and you fall away. There's nothing I can do.
Another bar gives out, I jerk forward again, and Tails yells in surprise and fear. I'm not letting go, no matter what happens! And then I realise just what is going to happen. One glance at Shadow and I can see it in his eyes. It's going to happen all over again, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
No! That's not true! It seems like that day has haunted the back of my mind forever, so I knew what would happen long before it did, but it doesn't always have to be that way! I can stop it, right now! I tighten my grip on Shadow's arm just as he lets go of me and jerks back. If I hadn't been ready for it, he'd have pulled free, and that would have been the end!
"I'm not letting go, Shadow! I won't let you die again!" Don't do this to me, Shadow! I won't let go, not now!
"You have to!"
"No!"
There's a gunshot, and suddenly, I'm being pulled down instead of sideways. My hand slips down the vertical bar I'd been hanging on to and fetches up against the bottom rail. Tails yells again, forced to let go as my hand slides. Now the only thing keeping me and Shadow up in the air is the twisted railing, and the robot's still hanging on, heavy enough that I don't know if I can pull us up! I hear the sound of tortured metal giving way, and more of the railing breaks, twisting down and leaving me, Shadow, and that robot hanging well below the level of the ledge.
"Let go, Sonic!"
"No way!"
I try and lift Shadow enough that he can grab the railing, but I'm already tired and kinda battered, and I don't quite make it. I try again, but don't even get as far as last time.
No! This can't be happening! I can't let Shadow die!
One last time, I try again, putting all the strength I have left into it. And, somehow, incredibly, I manage it. Shadow's hand locks around the railing, his other comes up to join it, and I can finally let go.
For a moment, I just hang there by one hand, worn out. I did it... I saved him. Shadow's not going to die. I hear a voice, but I don't really listen to what it says, and the words just pass me by.
Looking down at the robot instead of across at Shadow, I realise it looks dead, no sign of power in it any more. That shot must have finished it off! Problem is, it's still got its hands locked tight around Shadow's leg. Someone should be able to get it off when we get up, though. I swing myself backwards and forwards, which makes the railing creak alarmingly, then, when I figure I'm going high enough, let go, spinning around and landing with my feet on the bar I was holding onto just moments before. Catching what used to be the bottom of the railing, though now it looks more like the side of a twisted ladder, I steady myself, then bend and reach out to Shadow with my free hand. This time, he takes it, and with his help, I pull him up onto the same bar. It creaks, bending a bit in the middle, but we're not going to be standing here long enough for that to matter! There's a good bit of space between the bars, but they're close enough together that I can reach the next one, so I grab hold of it, jump, and pull myself up, then pause to help Shadow. One more bar and we'll be able to reach the ledge! Jumping up and reaching back down to help Shadow, I realise I feel better than I think I have since I woke up. Finally, things are working out! It's like I've lost a weight I didn't even know was there.
The ledge is within reach! The railing's been creaking some as we've climbed up it, but it seems to be holding steady. I hop up, kneel on the edge, and reach down. Shadow reaches up to me, I grab his wrist one last time, and as he jumps, I pull, bringing him up onto the edge. We've made it!
I pull the robot up, too, reaching past Shadow and dragging it onto the ledge so it can't pull him off. It's definitely dead. Whoever fired that shot took out its brain. I look up and see Crossfire walking towards me from some way around the ledge. He must've gone out there to get a good shot at it, without me and Shadow in the way. One minute he's crazy, the next he's trying to save my life?
"Sonic!"
That's Tails. I grin and look up at him, maybe a little tiredly, but I don't care.
"I did it, Tails."
"Shadow, are you all right?"
Amy spoke at pretty much the same time I did. She's kneeling by Shadow, checking he's okay. Shadow nods.
"I'm fine, thanks to Sonic."
Something makes me turn my head, and I see Blaze. He's looking right at me as if he can read my mind. He doesn't say anything, but he looks pleased, in a strange, distant way. I look back at Shadow.
I did it. I saved him, I didn't let him die. Now, everything's going to be just fine. I can feel it.