Part 2
"We were meant to live for so much more," we ask ourselves,
"We were meant to live for so much more…"
Meant to Live--Switchfoot ©2003
Chapter 8: Night of Fear
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Knuckles sat in the shade of a tree in a dark valley. The sun was beginning to set in the west and the scarlet Echidna had been working for almost 48 hours, searching for the Master Emerald shards. He thanked whatever power was above that the shards were spread out over a less larger area such as Sapphire Bay the last time the Master Emerald had shattered two years before with Chaos.
He figured that he nearly had all of them, but the only way to find that out was to go back to Angel Island and reforge the Master in Hidden Palace.
He relaxed for a time until darkness began to gather in around him. He got up, stretched and got back to his task.
He had gotten deeper in the valley when he glanced somewhere and nearly jumped out of his skin when he thought he saw a ghost, standing fluttering in the breeze to the right. He looked again, and saw that it was just a piece of white cloth hanging from seemingly nothing, being reflected in the moonlight that was beginning to radiate from the night sky.
There were also many pumpkins lying around on the floor, some carved with faces while some featureless.
Knuckles felt like it was Halloween as he walked through the pumpkin fields. He knew that Halloween was a bit far away still, being only early September, so he wondered why on Möbius would Halloween decorations be out so early. He recalled that humans have some radical economical view about holiday promotions that for some reason involve early Christmas promotions appearing in late July.
He shook his head at the thought. Humans are so weird…
He slightly stumbled over a few squashes lying here and there and found a sign lying against a few hay bales that read "Future Site of Pumpkin Hill Amusement Park--Opening in Late October." Ah, a theme park. That explained everything. He also espied a train with a painted jack o'lantern on the front. He also heard yet another shard resonance as he turned to view the train better.
He tromped towards the train and found the shard resting against one of the wheels of the main engine. It was as big as a football and glimmering in the moonlight.
"Well, I figure that I got all in this valley. Maybe I should head towards Sapphire City to see if I can do anything about Sonic….I wonder what is the deal with that…" Knuckles thought, as he turned to leave.
As soon as he turned, a chilly wind swept through the valley. It made an eerie noise as it blew. Knuckles couldn't help but shiver at the cold. He looked up in time to see one moon slowly being covered by a cloud. He could see it still in a hazy glow, but it soon faded away into the dark. It seems that a storm was blowing in.
Great, just great.
-----
A steady rain was pouring in Sapphire City and lightning flashed in the night. Although nature was violent that night, it didn't dampen the spirits of eight Möbians and chao inside the Sunset Resort.
There was a party for Sonic's successful "release" from jail and they were celebrating with some pizza.
"Ah, I thought I'd never get out of there!" Sonic said between mouthfuls of pizza. "This is what it feels to be free!"
"And I'm glad that no one was hurt when the island exploded," Sally added.
(Earlier, there was a news broadcast that showed that Shadow had been discovered setting charges, and the military and the eighth-grade class made it to the safety of an aircraft carrier in the ocean and therefore the only damage caused was the loss of the facility, a relatively minor loss. Sonic was given an embarrassed apology by some military personnel on the mainland.)
Dash and Frosty were talking about which toppings which they liked or hated the most. Dash happened to like pretty much all the flavors. Frosty didn't like the ones that had things like green peppers and pineapples on the pizza, being slightly carnivorous herself.
"Why do they put rabbit food on a pizza? Come on!" Frosty exclaimed.
"It's not that bad," replied Dash. "They're pretty good when on a bunch of there toppings, like this one." Dash held up a piece of a supreme pizza.
"Bleh! You can have that, but not me!" Frosty said, picking off a green pepper off of her pizza.
Amy and Cream were laughing and talking about various things while Tails was eating greedily his pizza; the excitement of the day took a big chunk of his energy and the smell of the pizza kicked his adolescence-metabolism to full power, so that he was drinking down fizzy sodas and just about anything he could see.
Sonic also talked all about the first time he escaped from the helicopter, but Tails saw an odd look on his face when he came to the place when he said that he used the Red Chaos Emerald to burn the way through the chain of the 'cuffs.
Night grew older and Amy had to leave to go back to her home. Sally, Cream and Cheese went to an adjacent room through a door that sat in the room, while the rest stayed in the room.
"Sonic?" Tails asked.
"Yeah?"
"What was with the odd look when you talked about the Red Chaos Emerald in the chopper?"
Sonic paused, sitting on the side of the bed. "Well, the Chaos Emeralds I had were confiscated from me, and as far as I know, they're still on the island."
"Oh…well, I still have one Emerald."
"What really bugs me was that Eggman was there."
Tails made the connection. "Do you think that he was after the Emeralds?"
"I dunno. The presence of Eggman, Mecha and Shadow on the island was strange. Whatever it is, I don't like it."
"Do you think we can go back there and see if we can find the Emeralds?"
"I wouldn't risk it. There was a laboratory there, and it likely had chemicals that I wouldn't like to find by accident there."
"Hmm, good point…well, I didn't see Eggman with any Emeralds…"
"Neither did I with Shadow." Sonic said, laying back. "I'm too tired to think about it."
"Ok, good night, Sonic!" Tails climbed on the bed and slithered under the covers.
"Hey! Wait for us!" said the two chao leaping on the bed with a ferocity unmatched by anything.
The two Möbians couldn't help a laugh as Dash and Frosty climbed into their appropriate owner's beds. Dash wouldn't be separated from Sonic if he could help it and cuddled as close as he could.
Sooner or later, sleep took over the four and all the world around slept through the stormy night.
-----
In a grey room, with wide windows looking down on a beautiful blue and green planet, marked with white, a hedgehog and a human girl were staring down at the planet, adoring its beauty.
"Shadow? What do you think it's like down there?"
The hedgehog put one hand on the glass. "I don't know, but I hope to know. All I know about that world is that the Professor who you're fortunate to call your grandfather says that his goal in life was to make the people down there happy through the realm of science."
There was a pause for a few moments, then Shadow spoke again. "Maria, I don't know anything anymore. Why was I created? What's my purpose here?"
"I know that everyone's made for a purpose, Shadow, and it's our job to find out what it is….I know you'll find yours."
"Maybe if I go down there…I'll find some answers…maybe."
"It would be nice to go down there. Maybe grandfather will take us down there sometime…"
Shadow put his head against the glass, closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, he was standing in the same room, looking at the same planet, but alone. It was times like this he missed Maria the most.
"Why so melancholy?" a high voice said from his side.
Shadow quickly turned to look and saw Rouge who had quietly entered the room. Shadow didn't say anything but looked back down at the planet.
"That was so unexpected of you, Shadow to come to rescue me back on the island. I never thought it of you, but your ability to use that Chaos Control you have certainly comes in handy."
Shadow hoped that she'd go away soon, but she didn't so any intention.
"You know," Shadow said at last. "I didn't come to rescue you; I came for the Emeralds."
Rouge gave a look that would pierce through any male heart that wasn't guarded, a look of hidden affection. "Maybe, but I believe that isn't all of the story…"
Rouge was interrupted by a clearing of the throat from behind. Shadow didn't turn to acknowledge the new presence, but Rouge looked irritated before turning. It was Dr. Robotnik.
"Hello, everyone. Are we ready for the demonstration?"
"Demonstration?" Rouge asked.
"Yes, with the Chaos Emeralds, we can provide a demonstration of what will happen if they do not comply to my new rule. This will mark the rise of the Robotnik Empire!"
Shadow masked his faced from everyone. Rouge asked, "When?"
"Tonight, after moonrise."
Shadow hadn't moved at all during the entire conversation, and Rouge wondered how a living, breathing creature could stand so still for such a long period of time.
"Well, I hope it'll be profitable. I'll see you boys tonight…" With that, Rouge left.
Robotnik waited until Rouge was safely out of earshot (which was quite a distance considering that Rouge was a bat and had keen hearing). "We only have six of the Emeralds, Shadow. Is that enough for the demonstration?"
"Yes. The Eclipse Cannon will charge fully by evening. Then, we'll show those pathetic humans the meaning of fear."
-----
The very next day showed Sonic racing again on Speed Highway, enjoying every ounce of freedom. Sally just shook her head as he outraced the Speed Highway police just like old times two years before.
Amy and Cream went to the mall to try on different clothes and just to have fun.
Tails took the three chao to the park where they had fun on the different equipment, while Tails seemed to be tinkering with the Yellow Chaos Emerald. The kitsune had been doing such ever since he got up. Sonic smiled; Tails was never satisfied unless he was doing an experiment of some kind.
Around lunchtime, they went to a fast-food restaurant where the chao played more with the toys from the kids' meals then eat their food. Tails ate, but got back to working with the Emerald.
They all went back to the park where Sonic asked Tails about what on Möbius was he working on.
"Oh, I'm hoping to perform an experiment with the Emerald."
"Like what?"
"I'm wondering if we can make artificial Chaos Emeralds."
Sonic whistled. "That's quite an experiment. Shouldn't you ask Knux?"
"Yeah, I'm hoping he'll show up soon. He said that he'd come as soon as he gets the Master Emerald back."
Almost on cue, a shadow fell over them. Sonic and Tails looked up and saw a shape slowing descending in circles above them. It took Sonic a bit to find out what it was, but he saw enough. "Hey! It's Knux! Wow, that was timely! Hi, Knux!" Sonic shouted up.
Knuckles looked down and waved. He then dropped down nearby and stalked up towards them. "Hey, Sonic. I see you broke out."
"Sort of. Thanks to Tails and the Cyclone. Did you find the Master?"
"For the most part. I'm not certain if I found all the pieces, but once I get back to the Island, I'll put the Master together again. It's able to tell me where the rest of the shards are if I didn't get all of them."
Sonic peered at Knuckles again. "Dude! You're soaking wet! What did that Rouge gal do? Drop the Master into a lake?"
Knuckles chuckled. "No. I got caught out in the storm last night as I was coming here."
"Well, that explains everything."
"Yes, and I'm beat."
Tails spoke next. "Hey, Knux. Do you think it's possible to make artificial Chaos Emeralds?"
Knuckles didn't answer for a bit, but finally replied. "I guess. It's been almost three thousand years since the Chaos Emeralds were first brought to life. You'd think that one could make more Chaos Emeralds, but that's a lost art."
"I at least want to try. I can only use the Emeralds for machines so if I could make more, I could use the fake Emeralds to power more stuff. I could spread my revolutionary energy supply."
"They probably wouldn't work as well as real Chaos Emeralds, you understand."
"Yeah, nothing works completely like the real thing," Sonic said.
"Well, I wanna see if I can try."
"Hey, I'll see if I can help you out. Let's go to the hotel where I can clean up and get some rest. Then we'll see about making these fake Emeralds."
"Cool!"
-----
Metal-Sonic stood in the control room, staring at the six Chaos Emeralds, shining brightly in their sockets like floodlights. He had wanted the power that these Chaos Emeralds can give, but being robotic had prevented him from getting their true power any more then just a simple power-boost when installed.
He also thought of Shadow as he stared deeply into the Emerald's facets. He claimed to be the ultimate lifeform. Just what was the ultimate lifeform anyway? Naturally his databanks displayed a lifeform that had ideal physical characteristics and was a living defiance of the Law of Entropy. That seems too basic of a definition for his interests.
He used his wireless connection to connect to the ARK's mainframe and did a search for the ultimate lifeform. Almost immediately, it brought up crypted documents, scanned sketches and many other related documents all under one title: Project Shadow.
Apparently there were different projects for this project. Some seemed non-consequential, while others caught his attention. He looked up prototypes of Project Shadow and found a picture of the supposed ultimate lifeform. Mecha mentally stared at it for a long while, when suddenly, he detected through aural sensors that someone was coming. He hastily closed all the documents and disconnected. It wouldn't do for either Shadow or Dr. Robotnik catching him snooping, although the latter didn't fear him as much.
In stepped Dr. Robotnik and Shadow, and the two crossed the narrow walkway towads the controls. "Hello, Mecha. I see that you are willing to watch the demonstration."
Mecha said nothing, but side-eyed Shadow who was focused on a screen with readouts.
"When the moon rises, the Robotnik Empire will rise…" the human smiled, allowing a laugh to escape. "Shadow. When shall my empire arise?"
"Moonrise is at 8:24 PM. We'll plan the demonstration for 8:30. Everyone in the colonies should be able to witness."
"Almost 30 minutes. Mecha, I will give you the cue to air my demands over wireless connection. Be ready."
"Yes, doctor."
-----
It was nigh evening in Station Square, and it found Tails and Knuckles working on their Emerald project. Knuckles was fascinated by Tails' calculations and layouts and by the project in itself. He had been studying up on Chaos Emeralds for almost 18 months and was drinking any new thing about them in. This experiment in making Chaos Emeralds kind of gave him a feeling of nostalgia about his ancestors.
Knuckles had supplied Tails with a topaz rock that he had found in the mines of Angel Island which was cut in the traditional diamond shape and looked an awful lot like a Chaos Emerald. There was only a subtle difference and the Echidna figured that even Eggman couldn't even tell the difference. Now if he was right, Tails and he could energize the topaz with the Chaos Emerald, giving the topaz power enough to glow.
Tails had been setting up a power apparatus where the Chaos Emerald sat propped up and wrapped in wires inside a bell jar, while the topaz was set up the same way. An energy-transfer machine sat in the middle and out of it protruded a mass of wires that would make a climbing vine jealous.
"Ready, Tails?" Knuckles asked, wiping his eyes.
"Ready as I'll ever be. I hope this works…"
Tails activated the switch and both gazed deeply and intently at the topaz.
Nothing happened for a good thirty seconds, but none were about to give up. They both knew that the Chaos Emerald had tremendous amounts of energy inside its small space, so it would take a long time for a dead gem to energize, so they waited.
The door flew open and in came Sonic with a chili dog. "Hey guys! How's it going?"
"Shh!" Knuckles and Tails hissed loudly and returned their gaze to the topaz. Sonic shrugged and looked at the dead rock. "Anything happening?" Sonic whispered.
"Not yet, but hush!" Knuckles whispered back.
"Ok, ok…"
All three stared at it for a long time. Sonic made the suggestion to turn off the lights so they could see any glow better and the other two agreed. After turning off the lights, they resumed their vigil.
After nearly ten minutes of straight waiting, Tails noticed something first. He noticed that in the heart of the topaz was a deep gold glow, but was barely noticeable. Knuckles began to see it to. Sonic grew impatient but waited…
Finally, the topaz began to flicker. All three jumped at the first flicker in surprised, but watched as it continued to flicker. The space between the flashes began to grow shorter, until finally, after almost thirty minutes of straight waiting, the light grew solid.
The two had whooped in delight, while Sonic kept asking loudly if the topaz was now a fake Chaos Emerald.
Tails waited a few more minutes and turned the transfer off. The real Chaos Emerald grew brighter again as its energy returned while the topaz was radiating strongly. Tails touched it and recognized its warmth. He dismantled the rest of the apparatus and took out the topaz. It felt a tad lighter now, and felt warm, like a summer afternoon. Knuckles studied it too. Sonic got a few glances at the "Emerald" as well.
"Looks like we have a Chaos Emerald, Tails."
"Yes!" Tails leapt for joy. His experiment had worked.
"Do you think it works the exact same as the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked. "I know that the Supers came from the Chaos Emeralds, but run very differently."
"True, but we can't find out until we use it a way that only a Chaos Emerald would be used." Knuckles handled the fake Emerald. "But I'm sure it's pretty dang close."
Tails took the Emerald and was fondling with it. "This is so cool. I can't wait to tell Sally."
"You'd better keep it somewhere so we can distinguish it with the real Emerald," Knuckles suggested.
"Oh, I know! I have a compartment in the Cyclone where I usually keep the white one for Frosty, but since I don't have it, I'll just put it in there!"
"Good idea. Let's keep the real one here until you do," Sonic suggested.
Tails was out the door, clearly excited.
"Wow, I never knew that I'd ever see the day when Chaos Emeralds would be made," Knuckles said.
"Me neither."
"This should be great in case something happens to the real Emeralds."
"Like of one blows up or something?"
Knuckles smiled and sat up. "Ow, gosh, I'm sore."
"You and Tails have been up here for hours. Come on down. I'm sure Sally and the others are getting us a table for dinner in the cafeteria."
"At this point, I'll take any food."
Sonic and Knuckles ventured downstairs and found Sally, the chao and the two girls seated at a table.
"Hey, Sal!"
"Hi, Sonic. We just got the table. Where's Tails?"
"He ran off to the Cyclone. He needed to put something back."
At that moment, Tails ran in and was ready to talk about his success, which he did. Sally listened through the entire stream of chatter from the little fox's mouth, while the others ate their fill.
"Hey, I know I'm not much for walking, but you never lived until you see Station Square at night. C'mon!"
"Ooh, I love the pretty lights!" Frosty said, just as they left the hotel.
"Hey, Tails. Sometime you and me should hit Casinopolis again, just for old times' sake!"
"Sonic Hedgehog, you better not!" Sally said, being the one that doesn't approve of gambling.
"Ok, Sal," Sonic said with instant mellowness, but Tails caught him side-eyeing him with a rebellious glint in his eye.
The whole group walked around Station Square and were nearing the beach again when they past an electronics store. All the TVs inside were displaying different channels, but all at once, all changed to a very different display.
Amy noticed first. "Sonic! Look! It's Dr. Eggman!"
Sonic jumped and looked towards where Amy was pointing. All turned to watch.
"Oh, crap, he has his own theme music now?" Sonic said, but all were too focused to hear.
"Listen to me! All who have ears! Here what I have to say! I…am Dr. Robotnik, the greatest scientific genius off all time, and soon to be the world's ruler!"
Sonic rolled his eyes, and noticed that quite a crowd had gathered around them all. He also saw that a huge holoscreen high above Station Square was displaying the video too, subtitles on a scrolling marquee closer to ground level.
"I demand that the world surrender to me otherwise, you'll suffer greatly! I point you towards the moons arising…"
Sonic naturally turned to see the two moons arising in the horizon, over the ocean. The smaller, Little Planet was somewhat higher, while the larger but barren moon was just barely above the horizon.
Something attracted Sonic back to the TV screen and he saw that there was a third moon, brown and odd-looking. Suddenly, beams of light shot out of one half, and before anyone guessed what was about to happen, the lower half of the "moon" exploded, and revealed what it really was.
Through the asteroids now surrounding the "moon," Sonic could see the crude face of Eggman, and where the nose would be, a tall spire rose. Six flat metal pieces, all laiden with solar panels appeared, giving the "face" what looked like a moustache. Sonic felt his heart freeze. It looked like the Death Egg reincarnated, but yet it wasn't. The spire split into four, exposing a hot-green and glowing thinner spire.
The spire began to glow brightly. Sonic knew what was happening; he'd seen this sort of weaponry before. It was a giant laser cannon. He witnessed it fire.
Everyone looked up and saw a green beam of light fly clear across the sky, shedding an eerie green glow upon the earth. All watched mesmerized as the green light flew through the sky and slam into the moon.
All watched for two seconds as the beam bored into the moon, and all of the sudden, half of the moon faded into dust, melting away into space. The bang of the cannon reached their ears, which nearly through Sonic on the ground, but he didn't notice. He merely stared.
Amy turned as white as a ghost and broke down on the spot. Sally stood, mouth covered in her hands as a tear ran unchecked down her face. Tails' ears were laid back and looked like he was about to turn into sand. Frosty was in Tails' hands and she was crying hysterically into Tails' chest. Dash simply stared. Cream and Cheese were frightened nearly to the point of hysteria, as Cheese was trying to hide in Cream's ears while Cream was chewing her other ear in a sudden loss of security. Knuckles stared, but was made of tougher stuff. He shook Sonic out of his stupor and Sonic could tell by Knux's look that he was seething with anger. How dare Robotnik touch such a lovely creation?
Sonic nodded and began to share Knux's anger. Eggman was going to pay with his life.
Sonic glared at the TV, expecting to see Eggman laughing in supposed triumph, but found a countdown timer:
23:59:48:02 and counting.
Eggman reappeared. "You have twenty-four hours to surrender. Remember, 24 hours, or you'll suffer the same fate as the moon." A picture of the moon appeared, showing the extent of the damage. It was damaged clear to the core, which was glowing hotly red.
The countdown timer appeared, punctuated by the doctor's evil laughter.
Sonic hissed a curse. "You never give up, do you?" Sonic was obviously not happy with the situation.
"Let's get back to the hotel," Sally said.
All hurried back into the hotel, which was quite a feat as panicked people were too frightened to reason, and anarchy began to rise.
In the room, high above Station Square, everyone took in the situation.
"I can't believe Eggman would have the gall to destroy the moon!" Tails exclaimed, the emotions finally colliding in one mixture.
"Why does Dr. Eggman have to be so mean?" Cream said, who was trying to comfort a crying Cheese.
"What I wouldn't give to find Eggman in my power form…" Frosty said, remembering when she fought a robot by Dr. Robotnik.
"When I get my hands on Eggman…" Sonic said through his teeth.
"Calm down everyone!" Sally said. "I know what we saw was very frightening, but if we are to stop Eggman, we must put our heads together and figure out a plan."
"We only have twenty-four hours," Knuckles added. "That gives us until 8:30 tomorrow."
"How did Eggman ever get that much energy to destroy the moon like that?"
"Please, don't mention that!" Amy said. She never saw anything so frightening and didn't think seeing Metal-Sonic again would match that.
Sonic was quiet, then cursed aloud. "That's must be why they were on the island yesterday! They were after the Chaos Emeralds that I had! The Chaos Emeralds powered that huge cannon! Double rats!"
"Figures. Eggman's always after the Chaos Emeralds for something. He's been after them since the Death Egg," Knuckles added.
"Hey! I have an idea!"
"Shoot, Tails!"
Tails dove for the dresser drawer and pulled out the Yellow Chaos Emerald. "The Chaos Emeralds Knuckles told me act have electromagnetic properties. We can use the Emerald to help find Eggman. Knuckles, what would happen if a fake Emerald absorbs too much energy?"
"I'm not sure, but what I do know is that you don't want to be around if it does."
"Sounds like it'd blow up," Sonic said from the side.
"I heard it alters the surrounding Chaos field so much that it'll crush anything around."
"Which is perfect! If the Chaos Emeralds are the power source of that cannon, it'll not only shut down the power, but damage maybe even damage it beyond repair!"
"The kid's got a plan, all right," Knuckles said.
"There's only one hitch: we need to FIND the stupid cannon."
All were quiet for a second, the Dash spoke up.
"Doesn't Tails' machine have a tracer of some sort?"
"What do you mean, Dash?" Knuckles asked.
"You know, the kind that Tails uses to trace Sonic so he can find him. Can't we use it the next time we see Eggman?"
All eyes stared at Dash. "You are a genius, Dash!" Sonic said.
"But my tracer only works on two-way communicators."
"That shouldn't be too hard to find. Eggman never hides when he thinks he's on top. He'll rub his victory in our faces, and he's probably tormenting the leader of the colonies as we speak with his constant demands. What a joke." Sonic crossed his arms.
"The President is the leader here. Where's his office?" Knuckles asked.
"He wouldn't be at the office or I'm not a princess. Usually during times of crisis like this, they'd evacuate the president to keep him safe," Sally stated.
"So we'll need to hunt him down," Sonic finished. "I'm the fastest guy here, so I'll hunt him down on foot. Tails, you can man the skies and see if you can pick him up, k?"
"Got it!"
"Can we come with you?" Frosty and Dash asked in unison.
"In the Tornado." Sonic said. "I don't wanna drop you, Dash at the speeds I'm gonna go. You'd be ground into hamburger."
"Cool!"
"Time's ticking, Sonic; let's go!" Tails cut in.
The two Möbians and chao zipped out the door.
"Knuckles, can I ask you a favor?" Sally asked.
"Sure, what?"
"Amy needs to go home, and I don't think the streets are safe right now. Can you take her home for me?"
Amy began to stay she wanted to stay, but knew that there was nothing she could do now and she'd just be in the way.
"Sure. I don't want to stay cooped up now anyway. I don't even feel like sleeping now."
"Me neither," Sally said to herself quietly. After witnessing such an experience, sleep was not an option.
Chapter 9: The Search for Eggman
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10:30 PM; 22 hours till next fire…
The fateful night barely began. Rouge had witnessed the demonstration but had no idea that the moon would be devastated. It first came into her heart that she may have made her first mistake in teaming up with Shadow and Robotnik, but her payment from the agency came first. Jewels were always her first love, and no one would get in the way.
She remembered the feeling she had when she first held that Chaos Emerald in the vault. She always had a lust for jewels, but when she first gripped that cold blue gem, her lust grew ten fold, and she then had a feeling of greed growing in her ever since. She wanted a Chaos Emerald all right, not for Robotnik or Shadow, but herself! No, not just one Emerald…
All seven.
And she wouldn't rest until all seven were hers.
But back to the demonstration, she was infuriated that they had the gall to destroy the moon! Did they realize the significance it had with the planet? Rouge glanced up at the moon, which was a dirty grey from its own dust. She used to love watching the moon, for it always reminded her of pearls, which were not as pretty as jewels, she thought, but were nearly just as valuable as sapphires and emeralds.
Suddenly, a whoosh and a bright blur raced by her suddenly that it nearly carried her with it! Her first impulse was to shout after it saying something like "You nearly ran me over, you idiot!" but something told her that something moving at that speed wouldn't hear her at all.
The blur raced by again, but through a street that was in front of her. Oh, she knew who that was. That was Sonic the Hedgehog, claimed to be the fastest being on the planet, but she saw Shadow race around so she wondered in the former was truly as fast as he claimed to be, especially compared to Shadow.
The blur raced by once again and Rouge decided to get off the street before she became roadkill. She fluttered up to the top of a building.
It was then she saw a biplane fly over ahead. Normally she wouldn't have thought anything of it, but what her sharp ears caught what was made that plane the more attractive.
She overheard thus over the plane engine:
"Wow, what's in here?" a high voice said.
"Please don't mess what's inside, Dash. That took me and Knux forever to get."
A brief pause. "It's just a Chaos Emerald."
The rest was drowned by distance, but it was enough for Rouge. So THEY had the last Chaos Emerald. Well, they wouldn't have it for long.
It was such a shame that she couldn't get it now, but she was sure she could get it later. Did she have something to tell the boys…
-----
"Sheesh, there seems to be a lot of police around where you don't need 'em!"
Tails was in the Tornado with Dash and Frosty, looking for the President. Sonic had just voice his disgust at roadblocks.
"Good thing I'm in the air then." Tails couldn't help but smile. "I still haven't been able to find the president."
"Gaw…"
"I'll check the Speed Highway. Meet me there, k?"
"Got it."
-----
4:30 AM
16 hours to next fire…
"Confounded piece of technology! Work!"
Robotnik dealt the consoles yet another kick. Shadow and Metal-Sonic were beside more screens completely ignoring Robotnik's temper tantrum.
"Is your master so short tempered to equipment like this?" Shadow asked Mecha coldly.
Mecha shot a glare at Shadow that the non-robotic individual wondered later why he didn't flinch. "He is NOT my master…" Mecha said it quietly, as he eyed Robotnik kicking another console.
"Then why are you still with him?"
"It is none of your business, hedgehog." Mecha was beginning to show the same ferocity he would show for Sonic.
"You seem ferocious enough. You could've killed the doctor a long time before once you possessed the will."
Shadow could feel Mecha's internal core radiating energy to feed the emotions that Mecha now possessed.
"It…is…none…of…your...business…" Mecha was clearly furious.
Shadow was not intimidated by a robot, and from what he gathered, the other hedgehog gave Mecha a hard enough time and he reasoned that he could do the same.
"Listen, Metal-Sonic. I am the ultimate lifeform. Threaten me and you threaten your own existence. Remember that. You have no idea what I can offer you."
"What knowledge of you of bio-robotics?"
"Bio-robotics? You are interested in upgrading your metal into more biological reminiscent material?"
Metal-Sonic realized his error. He had just admitted his weakness indirectly, and Shadow knew it. The first impulse was to slaughter Shadow on the spot, but with Dr. Robotnik nearby, it wouldn't be justifiable.
"Yes, and as I said before…"
"I heard enough. I have something to show you…later. Meet me in the science bay, and I'll show you something that may interest you."
Metal-Sonic debated thrashing Shadow just the same, but what Shadow offered for some reason peeked his curiosity. What did Shadow have in mind?
"What is all the ruckus about?"
All heads turned to see Rouge strutting into the dark control room. She had returned and had a look of confidence on her.
"Well, that was some demonstration. I was just down there and the city is utter chaos! Does this mean we control the city and do as we choose?"
Shadow glanced at the computer readouts and gave a disgusted look. "At this rate, the Eclipse will not be ready at the specified time. If we're going to use the cannon again, we will need the last Chaos Emerald."
Robotnik turned fully to Rouge. "Where have you been?"
Rouge eyes widened so slightly in innocence that it was barely noticeable. "Something happen?"
"The doctor's terms of surrender fell on deaf ears. Humans can unite under one purpose and it appears that purpose has been given," Metal-Sonic said, still recovering from his outburst.
Rouge gave a disgusted sigh. "Look at you, kicking and having a tantrum like a little kid! I find this embarrassing."
"Don't forget YOU'RE part of the bargain, bat girl! You said you'd get me the Chaos Emeralds. Where is my last Emerald?"
"Do we have a connection to the Internet down on the surface?"
"Why?"
"You'll find out."
Rouge strutted up to the control panel, connected to the surface Internet connections, and quickly web-searched for the right article. "Here you go. Read this?"
Robotnik glared at the screen for a moment, reading the contents of the screen. "Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower honored at City Hall for saving Sapphire City from a missile attack and water monster. In honor of their brave and heroic deeds, they were given the Chaos Emeralds and two chao for reward."
"Look at the colored photograph with the fox and compare it to the Emeralds we have," Rouge pointed out.
Robotnik glanced at the picture, then at the six glowing Emeralds. It took a bit to make the connection, then he noticed that the fox handled the Yellow Emerald, while that was only Emerald that they didn't have.
Robotnik's mood had flip-flopped, and he cleared his throat to excuse his former outburst. "This makes things much easier. Go down to the surface and get me that Emerald! I must have it and I will have it!"
"Yes, doctor. Don't need to be pushy…"
The doctor left through the door, muttering all the while. "Well, handsome? Are you just standing there or are you going to help me?"
Shadow didn't respond at first, but smoothly skated out of the room. Rouge turned away but heard something just as Shadow disappeared from sight. "As you wish…Maria."
Rouge turned slightly towards the door, surprised. Maria? Who's she?
She turned again in time just to see Metal-Sonic stalk by, and Rouge could tell by his eyes that he was angry. The white bat thought it prudent not to say anything to the robot and just let him pass, and he did so.
As the robot slipped into darkness behind her, she waited a few more moments until she felt that she was completely alone, but even then, she pulled out a scan probe and let it run for a full minute before she thought it safe.
When she was convinced, she pulled out her head-piece and activated. "This is Rouge's mission log: entry 19-A. I have not made any progress in research Project Shadow. I will intensify my studies and have a follow-up report within 10 hours. And a reminder: don't forget my jewels."
Rouge deactivated the head-piece and strolled out.
-----
5 AM
15 hours, 30 minutes till cannon fire
"I hope I don't wreck into anybody on here…" Tails said, worried.
"It's empty, kid." Sonic said from the side of the Cyclone, which was now in car formation. "I can run ahead of you so I can tell you if things get messy up ahead."
"Yeah…" Tails still looked at the open stretch of highway as if it was covered with landmines.
"C'mon, it'll be a piece of chili dog," Sonic smiled. "We got less then 17 hours until Eggman fires again. It's now or never."
Sonic took off down the Speed Highway at a run, quickly accelerating. Tails waited one moment, then went off after him in the Cyclone.
The experience was both exciting and frightening for the crew of the Cyclone. Tails was accelerating to near 200 miles and hour and nearly spilled around the tight turns. Tails grit his teeth and all concentration went to what was in front of him.
Dash and Frosty were feeling a little seasick with Tails' driving experience, but tried hard not to throw up, having visions of what people would think if they saw an interesting color on the pavement.
The com buzzed and Tails made a quick use of the fingers to let go of the steering wheel with one hand, activate the com and grip the wheel again. "Yeah?"
"Whoa, Tails, don't need to shout. I think I found them! There's a limo about 50 feet in front of me and it's in a HUGE line of SUVs. The limo has some flags on the antennas. If that's not a presidential limo, I'm Eggman. Juice up here, man!" Sonic said.
"All right, Sonic!"
Tails made a few more terms and saw a line of black cars along a straight-line of highway. He pulled along the cars, secretly hoping that he would attract attention. That was the situation when he nearly jumped when he heard a slight bump on the other side. He looked at that side expecting to see a guide-rail, but found the familiar figure of Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Heya, kid."
"Don't…scare me like that!" Tails breathed.
"Sorry. Hey, better get to the limo. I was just there and Eggman's having a little chat to the President. Pretty boring actually…"
"All right…" Tails peered ahead and saw the limo, which to him stuck out of the line of SUVs like a sore thumb.
Tails edged up to the limo and activated the tracer. Good, he was within range. Didn't want to make a scene by getting too close. Sonic was running alongside the limo and was apparently trying to see through the tinted the window, but was having no success. Sonic, one never to give up, jumped up on the rear bumper and climbed up the car.
"Sonic! What are you doing?" Tails hissed.
"I'm trying to see what Eggman has to say. Here, I'll let you listen in!" Sonic held his wrist towards the open skylight to let Tails hear…
"…make things in a nutshell, shall we Mr. President? It's simple: surrender the control of the colonies to the Robotnik Empire; otherwise…" said Robotnik.
"Otherwise…?" said a deeper voice that Tails guessed to be the President.
Tails could imagine Eggman smiling. "Otherwise, the colonies will be struck first and will resemble your moon. You have less then 17 hours to decide. I expect you to be sensible, Mr. President."
"Reasonable, my tail, Eggman!" said a very familiar voice.
Tails looked up to see Sonic leap into the limo.
"Sonic, you idiot!" Tails hissed again. He heard some scrambling through the com, and then heard some beeping. Tails saw that the trace completed. "Yes…huh?" Tails read the readout. "The space colony ARK?"
The scuffle ended with a "Ha, chicken Eggman. Don't worry, Mr. President. I have a friend outside who's been tracing the whole thing. Gimme a second…"
The limo door opened and out stepped a swaggering hedgehog. "Hey, Tails. You got the trace?"
"Yeah! It came from the space colony ARK!" Tails shouted.
"The space colony ARK? Wow…wait till they hear this…"
-----
Shadow and Metal-Sonic were in the science bay, looking over what Shadow claimed to be Professor Gerald's technical journals, and Metal-Sonic was impressed.
"It seems that Dr. Robotnik did not get his discoveries in bio-robotics from his own experimentations. It seems that he borrowed the technology from Professor Gerald. According to these readouts, he truly accomplished the science of biophysics." Metal-Sonic pulled up more journals.
"Yes, indeed. The Professor invented this revolutionary form of metalwork, calling it simply 'bio-metal.' It was originally created for artificial limbs, but it was soon expanded to other uses. Professor Gerald introduced this on Möbius 55 years ago. Unfortunately, when the colony was shut down, the technology was also abandoned."
"Foolish humans," Metal-Sonic growled. "And now the technology is sitting right here. This is my golden opportunity to become…living."
Shadow barely blinked, but smiled coldly.
"This is what I need to avenge myself, and finally be rid of that hedgehog!"
"The hedgehog, you mean that blue hedgehog?"
"Yes…" Mecha's eyes dimmed.
"Why that hedgehog? There's nothing special about him…"
"He's organic!" Mecha hissed. "He has capabilities that a robot can never hope to match! He can heal himself in certain amounts of time! He's more flexible! The only thing that I DO have over him is a weapon system, but he can cancel out that advantage with everything else he has! I need a complex power core to run, while the hedgehog only needs a food intake!"
Shadow closed his eyes and turned away. "The material is before you. The only thing that stops you is weighing the consequences of upgrading to bio-metal."
"Yes, I would have to sacrifice my superior weapon systems to acquire the flexibility of this substance…" Metal-Sonic tapped where his cheek would be in thought. "But the hedgehog has been able to dodge all my attacks by my weaponry. A sudden switch in tactics is bound to throw him off however…"
Mecha glanced at Shadow and found him to be gone. Shadow was like a ghost and seemed to simply disappear if one wasn't paying attention. Mecha didn't stay wondering for long and returned to Professor Gerald's notes.
He then began to wonder if bio-metal had any reaction to the power of Chaos Emeralds. He looked up anything that would give any information about that question, but unfortunately, Professor Gerald had not tested the substance with Chaos energy.
A loss, but one that could be reconciled with research of his own. He downloaded the notes into his internal memory banks, making a "mental note" to transfer them to a more compatible computer later.
He closed the documents on the computers and left the room as if he never was there.
-----
9:26 AM
11 hours, 3 minutes and 35 seconds to fire
Earlier that morning, Sonic and Tails had returned to the hotel and told Sally all about what the trace gave. The chao napped for a time while the others had a little conference.
"The space colony ARK?" Sally exclaimed.
"Imagine my shock," Tails said. "That space colony hasn't been used for over 50 years!"
"Perfect for Eggman. I bet it's like a second Death Egg to him," Sonic said from the side.
"But how did he get up there?" Tails wondered. "You'd think people around would've heard something about a launch."
"Or he had a teleporter in another base," Knuckles added.
"He still has the Final Egg base in the Mystic Ruins…" Sonic said suddenly.
"I figured he'd ditch that base after the loss of both Egg Carriers. He's always starting from scratch."
Knuckles snapped his fingers. "Wait, I think I know where Eggman's launch base is…"
A few hours later, after a long ride in a crammed Cyclone, the Möbians and the chao were standing in the Dagro Desert, which was by now heating up greatly, causing the crew to sweat and pant. All were there: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dash, Frosty, Sally, Cream, Cheese and to Sonic's dismay, Amy, who caught them leaving the hotel.
"I still don't understand why we had to bring the two girls, let alone Amy."
"And leave them unsupervised? Robotnik is resourceful and he could find a way to exploit there being alone, and could use them to distract us," Sally replied.
"He could do that on the ARK too, Sally. With the technology that could be hidden up there, he could catch them before we said 'kumquat.'"
"Do you have a better idea?"
Sonic thought for a moment, but growled deeply, "No…"
"And besides, you're in the more danger with you having the Chaos Emerald. Doubtless Eggman will try everything to get it from you, so he may be distracted from us."
"That's a point, I guess…"
There was a pause, then Knuckles said. "There it is."
Sonic and Sally looked up and saw two pyramids in the distance.
"The pyramids? Eggman's been hiding in those?" Sonic shielded his eyes from the bright sun.
"I'm sure of it. I saw Eggman as well as Rouge leave towards those pyramids. Robotnik has no love for historical artifacts, so why else towards the pyramids."
"Good thinking, Knux," Sonic patted Knuckles' shoulder. "Let's find a way to get up to that space station, and then destroy that cannon, and kick their imperial butts!"
"I can't believe Dr. Eggman would use such a beautiful place to build a base on!" Amy said, appalled.
"Believe it," punctuated Dash, swigging a bottle of water.
"Well why are we standing here chewing the flab? We gotta get in there!" Frosty said loudly.
"Sure thing, Frost, and it's 'chewing the fat,'" Sonic corrected.
"Whatever."
It was a hard run to the pyramid for the nine; sand is not a pleasant thing to run on, and the sun constantly beating down mercilessly on the desert, which made their eyes hurt. The shade of Eggman's base ahead proved ironically welcoming.
There were many stone ruins at the base and all were very wary, and Sonic half-expected to see red-glowing eyes in the shadows, but he saw none. The creeping through the ruins was uneventful except when Cream saw a large black scorpion in the shade and nearly freaked. Knuckles killed it with a quick stamp of the foot for he knew that black scorpions were very poisonous and could be fatal to anyone who was unfortunately stung.
All in all, they came to a dark opening halfway up the pyramid: the entrance in.
"Well, here we go, guys. Here we come, Eggman…" Sonic said, half-listening to his voice echo down the passageway.
All began going down the passage, the only sound coming from the Cyclone's footfalls.
After they disappeared into the darkness, something emerged from the shadows off to the right. It didn't leave the shadows, for its black color was a target for the sun which made the figure uncomfortable. It whispered into a communicator.
"Doctor, they're entering the pyramid, and I know that the fox has the Emerald. I heard the blue hedgehog talking to a chipmunk about a Chaos Emerald."
"Excellent. I shall send Metal-Sonic to take care of them. Come back to the ARK, Shadow."
"Yes, doctor."
There was a green flash and he was gone.
Chapter 10: Hidden Base
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rouge was in the control room of the ARK. She was never able to shake off her lust for the Emeralds, and being in the same room as six of them obviously didn't help her, but she figured looking was better then nothing.
Unfortunately, she was wrong. The more she looked at the Emeralds, the more she wanted them. She had a personal affection for the violet one. It wasn't the first she ever touched (that was the dark blue one), but when she took it from the vault back on the Prison Island, it was the only Emerald of the three she took that felt the most different, and she dearly wanted to get a better look at it, but she knew that Shadow nor Robotnik would stand for it.
Her thoughts were interrupted when her com buzzed. "Yes?"
It was Robotnik. She'd rather it be Shadow. "Rouge. I'm having a hard time running the mechanisms here. If I intend to use this space station, I must have complete control of it. Activate the machinery via the ARK controls."
"Yes, doctor, oh, but I need to know one thing?"
"Yes?"
"I'll need the password to get into the computer. Can you lend me it?"
"It is M-A-R-I-A. Now, hurry up!"
Rouge signed off without saying goodbye, but she figured that Robotnik wouldn't have done any different. She smiled coldly in triumph. "That doctor is so easy…"
She typed the password in. "Maria, huh? Where have I heard that before?" Rouge thought for half a second, but shrugged it off. She didn't have much time. She activated the machinery of the ARK and could hear deep rumbling in the space station…just to keep Eggman busy.
Then, there was something else. Rouge suddenly had a feeling that something else was with her. She spun around, expecting Shadow, but the door was closed. The feeling didn't go away still. The thought that it was her conscience was there for only a split second, but what she was doing was her job, and besides, she ignored her conscience, otherwise she wouldn't have all those jewels that she has now. From a great distance in her mind, she recalled legends of a mythical force that seemed to impress its power on anyone or anything that seemed to fill it with rage.
Still wondering about the feeling, for it felt…wrong…for a second, she turned to the screens again, and pulled up files resulting from the search under the terms "Project Shadow" and "ultimate lifeform." Interestingly enough, she found that the latter search entry was used recently.
She found detailed sketches, chemical formulas and what seemed to be similar to a mission log, describing the times of the project in chronological order.
She figured that time was against her and knew that there was more about this Project Shadow that would take a lot of time to go over. She decided to close the programs and print them out from a more…isolated computer terminal.
She left, under the excuse I said before, but in her heart of hearts, she was deeply spooked about what on earth was in the darkness below and what she felt.
-----
Robotnik was monitoring the electrical currents in a power box that seemed to be neglected for a century, when he felt a sense of foreboding, as if something was suddenly wrong about being here. He peered around, as if trying to see something, but not succeeding, he returned to the power box, but couldn't help peering over his shoulder once in a while.
He had never known pure evil, although he convinced himself that there was none worse them him save the devil, but he would soon find out differently.
-----
Shadow was in his typical mode of thought: alone in a dark room, reflecting in personal memories, when he suddenly felt an alien presence that distracted him. He turned, expecting to see something, but there was nothing, except the closed door that he had closed to prevent being disturbed. He was sure he felt something…
-----
Back in the control room, a screen announced that a containment pod in the ARK had been activated and is feeding power to it.
-----
Back on the surface, the troop was wandering in the deep dark caverns of the hidden base of Eggman's. Sonic's phosphorescent bracelet proved invaluable for it radiated a rich blue light that penetrated the gloom of the tunnels.
They had met the beetle robot that was patrolling the halls, but Sonic took care of it quickly thanks to the Power Ring that he kept in his glove in case a normal spin-dash proved ineffective.
It wasn't long until they came to the lit interior where many a torch gave their warm glow.
"Eggman's got some serious problems. Check out that statue!" Sonic pointed out a cobra statue which now had Eggman's face carved into it.
Knuckles rolled his eyes while the others grimaced at the rather grotesque image.
After some more hiking, they soon came to the three-keyhole gate.
"Looks like we're getting closer…" Tails said.
"Yep. I sure hope that Eggman left us a few shuttles around here."
Knuckles was tapping on the stone gate and testing it for strength. "It's locked. We'll need the keys."
"Can't we just punch a hole into it?" Sally asked from the Cyclone.
"Nope, it's too thick and sturdy," Knuckles said. "If you used rockets against it, it'll take us with it, and I'm sure the best it would do is to get rid of the paint."
"Ah, we can find the keys, right Knux?" Sonic said, smiling.
"Hey!" Knuckles straightened up. "Why do I have to find the keys?"
"We'll ALL look, so there's no use arguing," Sally said. "Sonic? Knuckles? You go as one group. Tails? You take the Cyclone and keep the chao and Cream with you."
"But what about you? And me?" Amy asked, who was digging her hammer out of the Cyclone.
"I have a laser pistol. You can come with me."
Sonic was concerned. What if Sally ran into Metal-Sonic, who was likely here. "Uh, Sal? Wouldn't it be better if Amy went with Knux? If Mecha is here, I'd rather have Amy or you with better protection."
Amy looked insulted, as if Sonic just said that she couldn't fight worth squat, but Sally saw the wisdom in that. "Yes, Knuckles can much better handle anything better then either of us."
"C'mon, let's get going! We only have 9 hours before Eggman decides to fire again!" Tails said from the Cyclone.
"Got it, kid. Let's split!" Sonic said. "Good thing there are only three hallways."
And the troop split: Sonic and Sally went down the left hall; Tails, the chao and Cream down the center, while Knuckles and Amy went down the right hall.
As soon as they left, something dropped down from the ceiling with a clang. It was Metal-Sonic who had overheard the entire plan. "Perfect, hedgehog, I can destroy each of your group one by one and you'd be too late to stop me."
-----
Rouge was in a lighted chamber looking at the computer while a printer was printing out vital information on the screen about Project Shadow. Light came from the planet and even from the sun itself, but the reason why Rouge had turned on the lights was to eliminate every shadow in the room. Her security in this wonderful but mysterious space station had been severely shaken since her experience in the control room.
Suddenly, she was distracted by a photo of one of the ultimate lifeform, the Project Shadow prototype…
Studying the picture and reading the accompanying notes made her think about Shadow.
The printer spent forth its last printout, and the bat scooped them up, straightened them out and stuffed them into a sack that fit nicely between her wings.
Rouge knew that she must get this down to the agency as fast as she could, but what excuse could she give for her absence? She figured that Eggman could be easily enough tricked, but Shadow was always suspicious and she was certain that the black hedgehog suspected her for treachery.
She weighed her situation and decided that she'd better wait until both were off their guard; otherwise, her mission would never be completed, to say mildly.
-----
"Dusty…" coughed Sonic.
Sonic and Sally were in a room which was half-filled with sand. Neither had found anything like keys, and both knew that they needed to hurry.
The other teams were having no better luck. Tails had wondered into a huge generator room where the noise annoyed him. Knuckles and Amy wandered into where a royal tomb was, stripped of its contents. The chao were more looking in awe at the rooms then looking for keys.
Sonic and Sally had wandered out of the sand room and found themselves in a room marked with old wall paintings of scorpions, and littered with treasure chests.
"A treasure room!" Sally said.
"A perfect place to find some keys if you ask me," Sonic said. "Let's check out the crates."
It was 15 minutes of searching through all the room, the chests and crates, but the only thing that they found was what looked like a brass bracelet with a fire-red ruby embedded in it. Strange lettering littered around the band.
"Nothing," Sally said, panting.
"Ditto. Didn't find diddly except for this cool bracelet." Sonic said. "Meh, I'll take it with me. It's not like nobody else took anything from this chamber." Sonic slipped the bracelet onto his left wrist with the glowing phosphorescent crystal bracelet.
"C'mon, let's go…" Sally said, heading back to the sand room.
They had reached the sand room when the unthinkable happened. There was a deep clank, and the doors slammed shut, and locked.
"Whoa! What happened?"
There was some hellish laughter that sounded robotic, and all the sudden, the sand started pouring into a whirlpool in the center of the room.
"Oh, gosh! A sandtrap!" Sonic said. He was very familiar with them, after running through the Sandopolis pyramids when Knuckles was not on their side. "We gotta get out of here.
Sonic grabbed Sally's hand for she was sliding towards the spiral. Sonic was trying to brace the wall or grab onto anything there, but the wall was featureless.
"Sonic! What are we going to do?" Sally shouted.
"Working on it…" Sonic was peering for anything in the room that would help, and as he did, Sally grasped his hand with both of hers, Sonic being the stronger. Sally felt something under the glove and knew what it was. "Sonic! Your Power Ring!"
Sonic's eyes lit up in remembrance and he jammed the ring onto his finger. "Hang on, Sal! I'm gonna blast through that door over there!"
Sally complied and Sonic launched over the flowing sands and broke through the strong wood doors. The ring didn't give out until they reached the other end of the hall.
Both lay on the floor panting.
"We're safe now…" Sally said.
"For now," Sonic peered back. "What happened in there?"
Little did they know that similar trouble was happening to the other groups. Knuckles and Amy were searching up and down a featureless corridor for any sign of false bricks, when the walls started closing in. Knuckles grabbed Amy and bolted, narrowly escaping into a room painted exotically with various snake patterns. They wondered the same thing, while Amy panted from fright.
The attacks, if that's what they could be called, were happening at various times. Sonic and Sally had run into a room where the floor dropped down revealing a pit full of razor-sharp spines, ready to impale anyone who was unfortunate to be standing there. Sonic and Sally saw that there were several bones below as well.
Tails, the chao and Cream had just escaped a room with swinging blades like pendulums were thriving.
"Good grief!" Sonic shouted. "I never thought Eggman to take on the Indiana Jones style…"
Knuckles nearly got toasted when another narrow corridor was lined with inactive flame-jets that suddenly became active. Amy thankfully had obeyed her instincts and stayed outside of the corridor. Knuckles smelled of smoke after he crawled out.
For all, the search quickly turned from a search for a way in to simple survival, which wasn't so simple. All the Möbians met again in the center room with the big generator. Besides the room with the keyhole door, it was the only one that didn't have a trap…or so one they haven't discovered yet.
"Gosh, I'm beat…" Dash said, leaning against the Cyclone seat.
"I never thought I'd get out of there…" Knuckles said, a little black from smoke.
"So much for that break-in…" Sonic sighed, who was sandy-looking.
All were huddled against the wire-mesh casing of the generator, panting from their share of adrenaline rushes.
"And we still haven't found the keys."
"That's because, they're right here…" a voice said from above.
Sonic leapt up and looked around. "Mecha!"
Metal-Sonic dropped down and landed with a clang behind Sonic who reacted by jumping away and turning to face the assassin robot.
"Greetings, my dear hedgehog." There was no friendly intention behind that greeting, Sonic knew.
"You caused all those traps to go off!" Tails said from the Cyclone.
"I did. Very perceptive, young one…"
"Like that's gonna keep me from smashing Eggman's plans, Mecha," Sonic was now growing angry from the many attempts on everyone's lives.
Metal-Sonic hovered off the ground. "You still need these keys to get in, hedgehog." Mecha held up a ring with three keys on it.
Sonic spat, "How do we even know those are the real thing?"
"You don't. But the fact remains. I have keys; you don't. The only way to get them is to catch me…"
With that, Mecha took off down a hall. Guided by instinct, Sonic took off after him.
"Sonic! Come back!" Tails shouted after him.
"I'll go after him. If we can catch Mecha, we can finally get out of here," Knuckles said suddenly, and took off down the hall.
"But how?" Sally shouted after him.
"I have an idea!"
-----
Robotnik wasn't worried about the infiltration within his base, and was very confident that Mecha would deal with them well enough. He was looking up the schematics about the Eclipse Cannon to study how it worked.
His mind began to wonder. What was the worth of destroying Möbius if they refused? His goal was always world domination, and the only thing that was really standing in his way was that blasted Sonic, who had destroyed the former Death Egg, his biggest creation ever, literally blew up his Flicky Island projects, brought low the almighty Egg Carrier and more.
World domination. It seemed simple enough, but now it was becoming tiresome, being beaten every single time. It was made harder after losing Robotropolis due to lack of resources, which was no doubt by now dismantled by the Möbians, led by that rebel Princess Sally Acorn no doubt.
But back to his original train of thought, he wondered at the wisdom of using the Eclipse Cannon upon the planet. The laser beam was too large to be repelled so it was a perfect mass destruction weapon, but should it be ever used as a threatening tool, as it was the night before?
What if the planet didn't surrender? Would he have to fire the Eclipse Cannon? If he did, his goal for world domination may suffer, for the world may not even exist after the first fire. If he didn't, he would never be taken seriously again, he figured, a double-blow, but which would be worse?
Curses! He was now in a trap of his own making! It seemed picture-perfect at the time, but now, he was stuck, and he didn't know how to get out of this one.
-----
Sonic was having a hard time. He had encountered the flame-jet hall and just barely made it. Mecha proved to be a really slimy fish, for he seemed to be able to take turns sharply without even slowing down. And all the while, Mecha would be setting off traps just as Sonic was running into them.
Mecha would also switch tactics and would occasionally hide in a shadow and just as Sonic would run last, he would lash out with his claws and take off down another hall, just as Sonic would recover from the blow.
"I told you, hedgehog. I will best you one of these days…"
Sonic was so concentrated on catching Mecha that he nearly mowed Knuckles down.
"Knuckles!" Sonic shouted, after picking himself up.
"Sonic, you can't catch him like this. He'll keep going until we finally get killed in the traps." Knuckles motioned to the next hall which had swinging pendulum blades.
"Do you have a better idea?" Sonic said, steaming.
"Actually, I do. Remember your birthday present?"
-----
Shadow was unaware of Robotnik's problem, but he began to sense the problem in letting the human fire the Cannon. He knew that the doctor had a brain, but after some conversations with his assassin robot, Metal-Sonic, he began to wonder if Robotnik would be capable of destroying a planet?
He had seen humans: some pleasant, like Maria; while others, cruel, but he never saw one able to go so low to destroy an entire planet for his own gain. He began to suspect the doctor to becoming weak come fire time.
Maybe he should be there. The thought of Maria was enough for him to destroy the planet in itself.
-----
Mecha was waiting at the other end of the blade hall, high up on a ledge that hung over the opening. He waited for a considerable lengthy amount of time, in comparison to how long the hedgehog would stumble out. For a brief moment, Metal-Sonic considered that the hedgehog had given up.
Ah, he could sense a rush. But what came out surprised him most of all. The hedgehog of course, but was now glowing the colors of the Chaos Emeralds and floating off the ground.
Hyper Sonic.
Mecha bolted. He had fought Sonic in Super mode, and had no desire to repeat that humiliation. But Hyper Sonic had other plans. He had worked hard with Knuckles to activate the Super Emerald belt, and had succeeded. Now HE was in charge…
Sonic chased Mecha through the halls, completely ignoring the traps for they no longer harmed him. He glorified in speed and could match Mecha's turns with a quick one of his own, energy stars trailed in his wake.
Mecha doubled-back into the main generator chamber where all saw him enter. Knuckles had reached the room a few moments before after helping Sonic with the belt and watched Mecha fly in, followed by Hyper Sonic.
"What is THAT?" Dash exclaimed, seeing the brightly colored hedgehog.
"That's Sonic!" Tails answered. "He's Hyper now! Now Mecha's gonna get it!"
"It's so…pretty…" Frosty said, but winced as Mecha nearly got his head beat in when Hyper Sonic and the robot met at a turn. Mecha picked himself up, but was shoved back onto the ground by Sonic.
Chaos energy ran by the Super Emeralds reacts differently on robots, for Mecha didn't go into a power surge, much to Sonic's disappointment; however, Sonic was able to pull the keys out of Mecha's grasp, and decided to go a step further.
Knuckles and the entire crew watched Mecha fly by and slam into the nearby wall. The wall, being old cracked under the force. Mecha's internal systems couldn't withstand that kind of forced and were forced to shut down to auto repair.
Hyper Sonic saw that Mecha wouldn't rise anytime soon and decharged. "Gosh, I'm so glad we found a way to use that belt. It's freakin' awesome…"
Knuckles and the crew walked up to Sonic, who was in high spirits at kicking Mecha's butt. "Let's get back to the door."
It was quite a walk back to the door, for all were expecting the hallway they were in to do something: release cobras, turn to dust, you name it, they thought it.
They soon came to the room with the door, and Sonic stepped up to the door and use the keys in the locks. It was a little while for there was no indication where which key went where, so Sonic had to guess.
After a time, all the locks were disabled and the door slid open, and revealed the inner chambers.
"Well, that wasn't so bad…" Knuckles said.
"Piece of cake," Sonic said, grinning.
Tails said nothing, but the look he gave Sally was enough.
It proved to be a maze of rooms of machinery, old tombs and what not, and it was uneventful until--
"Whoa!"
--Sonic and the crew came to a drop off in one dark room that dropped off into complete darkness.
"Good grief!" Sally exclaimed.
"Whoa, we're high up!" exclaimed Amy.
The chao huddled deep in the Cyclone; they have never seen anything that deep.
"What is this place?" Knuckles asked, hearing his voice echo. Whatever it was, it was huge.
Sonic eyes tried to find anything that could help him answer that question, but it was pitch black beyond ten feet. "I can't tell…"
"Hang on," began Tails. "I think the Cyclone has a headlight in this mode…yeah, here it is."
A steady beam of light shimmered from the nose of the walker, and what it revealed was eye-opening.
"Whoa, a rocket-ship!" Dash exclaimed.
"Dude, that's cool!" Tails said.
"This may have been how Eggman got up to the ARK. He's getting taste now…" Sonic said, smiling.
"But how can we use it? I don't know how to fly a space shuttle…" Tails said.
"I think these had preset coordinates, so it'll fly by itself, I imagine," Sally said.
Almost on cue, strong fluorescent lights switched on, causing all to blink. It showed the details of the space shuttle and it also revealed the all too familiar logo of Eggman's face on the side.
"I take it back…" Sonic said dryly.
"How are we supposed to get in there anyway?" Amy asked.
"Well, now that the lights are on…" Sonic scoped the launch pad. "Hey, there's a platform that leads to an elevator. It looks like it heads up to the cockpit. Let's go!"
The crew went along the platform, which ran along the circumference of the wall, and made their way to a large elevator. Several robots were in the area, but only worker robots and they paid the Möbians no mind at all. They merely packed the elevators with supplies.
"Wow, looks like Eggman wants to live up there," Frosty said, seeing all the food storage boxes.
"Here's an empty elevator. Let's take it to the top. All aboard everyone!" Sonic said.
It was a long ride up, for a space shuttle is much bigger then it looks, and they grew cramped in the elevator. Eventually, it reached the top.
"About time," growled Knuckles, whose foot was probably stepped on by everyone besides the Cyclone thankfully.
They crawled into the shuttle and made their way to the passenger bays. Knuckles however made a pit-stop at a cargo bay behind the bay and stored the backpack that contained the Master Emerald shards in the cargo along with the supplies.
"Whoa, we got in at a good time!" Tails said, who had crawled into the cockpit itself. "It says here on a computer screen that launch is at under a minute! Better get buckled in everyone!"
All hastily claimed seats and buckled in, Tails, Frosty and Knuckles in the cockpit. Everyone else was sitting accordingly: Sonic, Dash, Cream and Cheese in the two front seats in the passenger bay; Amy and Sally in the back seats.
Everyone waited as the timer was ticking down.
"I always wanted to see a launch, but I never thought I'd be in one…" Tails said.
"This is so exciting," Frosty said, barely containing his excitement. "I can't wait to float around like those astronauts do on TV…"
Tails saw the top of the room open and the timer reached zero.
-----
Metal-Sonic was picking himself up after reactivating. He was dented in three places heavily and knew that he must be fixed soon. He heard a deep rumble in the base, and knew that a shuttle had been launched. Doubtless the hedgehog and his friends found a way on it.
He must inform the doctor…
But he made his way to the construction bays. Doubtless Robotnik would have him wanting to get back on the ARK regardless of condition, and he knew that he was in no condition to fight the hedgehog, but it wouldn't be long. A flight took several hours, and he could use the teleporter in the control room.
End of Part 2
