I'm back! Yeah! Anyway-->this is the beginning of the end, just to warn you. Please review because I needto know how you, the readers, think this story is coming.
Chapter 9: Deja vu From Within Darkness
A dark bird sat perched in the maple tree. It was a large bird of sleek black feathers. Cocking its head to one side, it looked down. There at the foot of the tree it saw a patch of blue. The raven had never seen this color before, and so it dropped to the ground to investigate.
Slowly, it moved towards the stranger, weaving its way through the grass. When it reached the object of its fascination it stopped. Gentle sounds came from the blue thing, and raven blinked when it first heard this. It stretched out its neck and poked the blue thing.
Sonic jumped and the raven flew away, its cry crackling with surprise.
"What was that?" muttered Sonic to himself.
He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The desert sunlight came in through the thin trees and he shielded his them from it. What a night! He recalled.
Sonic then stood up and looked through the forest and out into the desert. What a day it's going to be…he told himself. Blistering sun and no shade, just what I need. Then his stomach growled and he realized he needed more then just shade. I need food and water. There's no telling how far I have to follow Shoca, and she'll need some too when I find her.
He walked away from the maple tree and into the desert.
Two hours later, Sonic found himself vaguely recognizing the area he found was in. Granted, all of the desert looked the same; sand, rocks, sun; but this was something else. In the distance he could see something on the horizon. The sun was directly behind them and the glare was terrible.
"Pyramids?" he whispered, his voice raspy from having no water. Then it hit him.
"Oh no!" Shoca walked straight to Robotnik!
Sonic started to run. Questions flew at him. Why hadn't he realized where she was going? How could he be so unprepared, again? When was he going to learn that all things led back to Robotnik? Why didn't he do something more? And what more could he do?
Now running at nearly full speed, Sonic reached the pyramids in a half of a minute. The dust he kicked-up created a cloud behind him and he realized that Robotnik was going to know he was there.
As he was running, memories of his past desert experiences flooded his mind; especially the time from the Ark incident, when Knuckles had gotten them into the pyramid. That was the time he'd had to fight a giant rock robot. I hope it's not the same this time.
Sonic was now roughly a hundred yards form the pyramids. The foremost one loomed in the near future and Sonic was fast approaching it.
At the top of the first pyramid, an opening appeared. A dozen flying robots zoomed out and rushed towards Sonic.
Sonic didn't back down. He kept running at the same speed and met the robots head-on. Several of them managed to make a serious U-turn and follow him; the others were cut down by the air current that came after Sonic. These ones plunged to the ground malfunctioning and twitching.
A short series of homing attacks and spin dashes destroyed the remaining robots. As the final one fell, Sonic landed in the shade of the first pyramid. He looked up at it and knew that Robotnik was watching him.
"You'll have to do better then that Robotnik!" He shouted. "Now tell me what you have done with her!"
"I have no idea what you are asking Sonic, and I feel quite hurt that you would accuse me of stealing from you," replied a voice. It came from the opening and was definitely the Eggman's.
"What have you done to Shoca Lief!" screamed Sonic. Now that he was in some shade and not moving, he could feel the affects of heat exhaustion and dehydration. And there was always the factor of his constant contempt of Robotnik to figure in too.
"Oh, so the thing has a name does it?" said Robotnik. It was followed by murmuring about how he'd have to change the name.
The taunting was more then Sonic could take in his current state.
"What have you done to her!" he repeated.
"Hahaha," laughed Robotnik coldly, "why don't you find out?"
The opening in the pyramid grew larger and the ground started to vibrate. Sonic could hear the grinding of gears and the scrapping of metal on stone. Oh no…
From the opening emerged a giant something. It shot out of the hole and up into the sky. Sonic followed it with his eyes and was blinded by the noon sun.
It can crashing to the ground and Sonic was thrown up into the air. Recovering, Sonic studied his enemy.
It was a robot, big surprise. A large almost humanoid shaped one, it was all silver in color. For a weapon it wielded a long metal stick, each end with a blue orb on it. Most importantly, in the robot's chest was a glass display.
Inside of the display was Shoca Lief. She was strapped in and couldn't move. Her eyes were blood red and her whole body was almost too white to look at. Sonic peered at her and knew this was not the chao Tails had loved. This was a monster with no control of itself, a creature with terrible power, the very power of chaos. It had no love, and this he knew for sure.
"Meet chaos, Sonic the Hedgehog."
The robot lunged at him. Nimbly, Sonic flipped back and started to run. He felt a gush of wind and then ran into the robot. It swung its rod and he went flying. This thing is fast!
Sonic became defensive, and the robot began to glow red. It towered over Sonic in the desert sun.
"Come on!" Sonic called.
"Destroy him!" shouted Robotnik.
Inside the display, Shoca struggled against the restraints. The robot moved slowly and Sonic took the opportunity to attack.
He ran up to the leg and used a wall jump. Once on the chest, he charged up and hit the glass display with a spin dash. The window was laced with an electric current and Sonic was caught in it. He screamed and twitched as the power ran through his body. The robot swung itself and Sonic was hurled off.
Sonic landed hard. That didn't go as planned, he told himself. He tried to get up, but his body was burnt and now weak. This was probably the strongest enemy he'd faced.
"Get him!" screamed Robotnik.
Out of the pyramid's door came hundreds of flying machines. At their head was Robotnik in a personal flying device. They came behind Shoca's robot and watched as the robot finished off Sonic.
From the robot came a scream of utter horror and agony. Sonic lifted his head and saw Shoca. In her eyes he glimpsed the innocence he had known. She was contorting and pulsing a vicious shade of red.
"DO IT!" shouted Robotnik. He pulled out a control panel and pressed a button.
The scream came again as Sonic got to his feet. Shoca Lief kept trying to break free as a fresh wave of energy struck her.
"You can't control her!" Sonic yelled up at Robotnik. "She's too good for your evil!"
"We'll see about that!" replied Robotnik.
He pressed another button and this time Shoca couldn't take it. She reared in her harness and began to pulse black. Her screams stopped and the robot again started to move.
The rod's ends, the blue orbs, began to glow. I need to move, now! Realized Sonic. He started to run, his aching body fighting his will. Move Sonic! Move Son—
A brilliant blast of blue light struck the spot right next to him; Sonic remembered flying up in the air and the sensation of falling. He could hear the dull laughter of Robotnik as he blacked-out.
Dr. Robotnik was about to send the rest of his fleet to find and kill Sonic. After the blast, the doctor's rival had been sent flying into the forest. Every piece of logic was telling Robotnik that Sonic had to be dead, but the Eggman had seen this episode too many times.
That's when GUN had arrived though. They had obviously sensed the energy from Shoca. Robotnik didn't want to deal with them, not yet. He dispatched 20 of his standard flying robots and 3 elite fighters to find and finish Sonic. Then he and the rest of his force started for Station Square because that's where the real party would begin.
Colonel Aric saw Dr. Robotnik shrinking into the distance. He was still in awe at the power the Eggman's robot had registered. Aric knew that Jadas was with him, and she must be recovered! He gave the command to pursue, all units pursue Robotnik.
Knuckles was beginning to get use to this week, it just kept getting worse. So when the Master Emerald again glowed, he knew something was up.
Everyone was in the kitchen for lunch. They were about to eat tacos, but no one was that hungry. Sonic was on their mind. Where was he? Was he okay? What could they do? All these questions ran through their minds. And Tails was so stressed out about Shoca Lief! The fox's fur was matted form worry and the poor thing's tails drooped with sadness.
Everyone, even Rouge, had tried to cheer him, but nothing had worked.
So there they were, in the kitchen when the emerald went crazy.
The Master Emerald started to shine a beautiful green. Then it levitated off of its spot in Knuckles's hands. Spinning in the air, dishes went flying and the food spilled all over the floor.
Taco meat sprayed Rouge and Cream and the sour cream was thrown at Amy. An entire head of lettuce hit Tails in the head and Knuckles tried to grab the emerald. He jumped at it and it simply moved. Knuckles fell into the counter and taco sauce was shot al over his face.
"I've got it!" said Tails.
He was holding onto the emerald and it was carrying him up into the air.
"Let go!" shouted Amy at him.
Tails let go and dropped to the ground. Knuckles reached for a dish towel and threw it over the floating gem. He grabbed the Master emerald and stuffed it in a cupboard.
"I've never had this much trouble with it," he told them.
Then the cupboard exploded.
The Master Emerald fell onto the counter, still glowing but not flying. The ashes of the wooden cupboard lay around it like a garnish.
"Something must have happened," said Cream.
"Yeah, but what?" asked Rouge.
"Let's find out," said Amy as she wiped off sour cream. "The television."
Darkness was now settling on the forest. In the twilight walked a creature, the same one that had slept behind a baker's shop in Mevios Point.
It had been traveling to the eastern sea, back to spend a month or so with the Aquari folk. The call of chaos had been too much though. The first surge had been just enough to grab its attention and cause a halt in its eastward progress. The strong surge, the one from earlier this day, had drawn it back across the River Atlos.
Now in the cover of the trees it had heard noises, something like a struggle, and it was intrigued.
Red eyes peered through the bushes at Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue one was tired. He had little energy to hold off his attackers. The robots were too many. Even though there was debris, robot arms and such, to say Sonic had put up a fight, it was ending. Soon he would succumb to his injures.
An elite robot came at him. Sonic had disarmed him and so the robot used hand-to-hand combat. Sonic parried the first blow, but then the robot swung low and Sonic was knocked over.
The remaining robots, about 10, formed a circle around them. Sonic weakly tried to crawl away. The elite robot raised it arm to deliver the final blow...
"Chaos Spear!" shouted Shadow the Hedgehog.
He leapt out of his cover and attacked.
The robots exploded forcefully from his attacks. In seconds, the ground was littered with metal parts.
"Hold on Sonic!" said Shadow. He caught the hedgehog's head as he collapsed.
"Shadow?" whispered Sonic.
"Yes, it is me," replied Shadow.
He removed his back-pack and searched through it.
"Where have you been?" asked Sonic.
"Just about everywhere," Shadow answered. "Here."
He produced a vial of dark liquid.
The sun had set and the two hedgehogs could barely see each other.
"Drink this," commanded Shadow. "You need it more now then I ever will later."
"What is it?" asked Sonic cautiously.
"A healing remedy from the Cehue people. They live on the plains and I met them on my travels."
Shadow uncorked the vial and helped Sonic drink it. The blue hedgehog felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. It was warm and comforting.
"Rest," Shadow told him.
"But I have to tell you about…" Sonic started but then fell asleep.
For several minutes Shadow remained where he was, kneeling, propping up Sonic's head. What am I doing?
He used his back-pack to make a pillow for Sonic, after removing the blanket, this he lay over Sonic.
Shadow sat down next to the sleeping Sonic. He'll wake up revived, he noted.
Sighing, he looked up through the trees to the moon. He could see planets out in the distance and déjà vu hit him.
What am I doing, saving him? I was happy in my traveling, my searching. Now I'm back with Sonic, and who knows what he'll drag me into. A voice answered-you have already dragged yourself into it. He asked-what is it? Answer-you'll find out soon enough.
Oh yeah, I introduced Shadow! Betcha didn't see that one coming ;-). So, what do you think? The plot is thickening...