hello

sorry this took a while. as I've mentioned, this semester is killing me, so i haven't had as much time to write as I did last semester, but the good news is there's only one more chapter after this one! I'm hoping to have that one done by the end of may, but no promises

in other news, i came to the realization that i have written a novella's worth of sonic the hedgehog fanfiction, which lemme tell you, is a really weird realization to make

but anyway, I'm not crazy about this chapter, but we gotta get through it to get to the end, so i hope you enjoy!

thanks to Guest for commenting!


Day 7: Into the Fire

After traveling for a few hours, Blaze stopped running, Sonic and Shadow ceasing to fly in turn. "We need to discuss the plan," she said bluntly.

Shadow crossed his arms, dark tails flicking behind him. "As far as I knew, there was no plan."

"That's my point." She looked over at Sonic. "How much further, do you think?"

He held a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun and looked behind at their previous destination, the imposing peaks shrinking in the distance. It was hard to make an exact estimate, but it seemed to him that they were back to where they started when they first went out on their emerald hunt. "Not far," he said, lowering his white-gloved hand, "We'll probably arrive within the day." Shadow nodded in agreement.

Blaze fiddled with the inhibitor rings on her wrists. "If that's the case, then we definitely need to figure out what we're doing. We're not gonna be able to help Silver or Tails if we don't have a plan."

All three of them fell silent as they thought of what to do, each coming up with their own sets of blocks and blanks. After a few moments, Blaze and Shadow shrugged at each other helplessly. But Sonic stayed still, lost in thought. "Sonic?" Shadow asked hesitantly.

Sonic looked back at the two, uncertainty plastered on his face. "I've got a couple of ideas," he said slowly, "But none of them are great." He sighed, the wings on his back fluttering, broadcasting his unease. "The big problem is we only have two emeralds. We'd have a few more options if we had the third, but something tells me that without all three, Eggman won't be in a charitable mood."

"Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge might have the other one," Blaze offered.

"But we can't bank on that," Sonic reminded her, "We don't even know if Elise has managed to find them, let alone if they even know what happened. We can't take that into account." He started to pace, working out the problem as he did so. "We need Eggman and all three of the emeralds to fix our powers-"

Blaze cut in. "-But we also need to get Silver and Tails-"

"-Without pissing off Eggman," Shadow finished, "Piece of cake," he deadpanned.

Just like that, they were back at square one, no closer to fixing the problem than they had been before. It was frustrating. They had been in no-win situations before, but it had never been quite this complex, this difficult to solve.

"Or we could just say fuck it." Both Blaze and Shadow looked back over to Sonic, who was looking at the ground. He met their gaze. "We could keep the emeralds, grab Tails and Silver, and find the others."

"What about our powers?" Blaze asked.

Sonic shrugged. "We've already got the gamer gem and the piss rock. We've been in worse situations before." He still wasn't quite as spirited as he usually would be, but Blaze could catch some of his trademark determination. "We'll figure something out. But I think our first priority should be making sure everyone's safe."

Shadow nodded. "So, we're breaking in?"

Blaze looked between the two, slowly nodding. "Looks like it."


It was dark by the time they found an entrance to the doctor's base, a small maintenance door hidden by brush and trees. Normally, Sonic would be in favor of a full-frontal assault, busting through the main door as loudly and, to Eggman, obnoxiously as possible, but this particular mission, he conceded, required a bit more tact.

The hallways of the base were sparse, not a single badnik in sight, much to Sonic's relief. The longer they could remain undetected, the better.

After peeking around a corner to make sure there was no surveillance, Shadow strode towards the other end of the corridor, where a small monitor was placed, Sonic and Blaze trailing after him. "You guys didn't happen to find the detainment center when you were here, did you?" Blaze asked, watching the screen over Shadow's shoulder.

Sonic shook his head. "No." His gaze was also fixated on the screen as it booted up. "But we explored most of the main floor. Based on the layout of some of Eggman's other bases, I'd wager the prison'd be on the lower floor."

Shadow nodded in agreement. "It's a start, at least." The monitor opened to a login screen, beckoning for the input of credentials.

Sonic gave a slight chuckle at the sight and nudged Shadow lightheartedly. "What are the odds ol' Egghead's changed his password?"

A shadow of a smile appeared on the other boy's face as he typed in E-G-G. "Excessively low." As expected, the comically short passphrase yielded access to the base's main computer system. Shadow quickly navigated to a map of the area, skimming over the building's many passages and wings. "The detainment center's in the northwest quadrant of the facility," he said finally. Before he had even finished the sentence, the other two had begun to move in the direction he had indicated. "Hold on." They both stopped. "It says there's only one prisoner there."

Blaze zipped back to her previous spot in an instant, worriedly scanning the screen. "That doesn't make sense. Eggman said he captured both Silver and Tails."

"He might've separated them," Shadow said, a twinge of uncertainty in his voice, "I'll see what I can find."

Sonic's mind began racing, trying to comprehend Shadow's words. He hadn't even considered that Eggman could have been lying, that he might have never had Tails or Silver. He could feel the bat wings on his back flap with anxiety, which was new, to say the least, but was halted by a slight furrowing of Shadow's brow. "What?"

Shadow seemed to hesitate, glancing over at Sonic quickly before diverting his attention back to the screen. "There is this," he said, the cursor hovering over an unfamiliar part of the base, "There isn't a lot of information, but its file says it has holding capabilities. It doesn't indicate whether it's occupied or not, though."

"Where is it?" Sonic asked.

"Lower floor, northeast quadrant."

Sonic nodded in acknowledgment. "I'll check there. You two head to the northwest quadrant."

Shadow turned away from the monitor, the unconscious movement of his dark tails ceasing. "Wait," he insisted, "We're not splitting up again."

"Look," he sighed a little, "I don't like it any more than you do, but we've gotta find Silver and Tails. We know that one of them is in the northwest quadrant, so you two should get whoever's there out first."

"No," Blaze cut in, "I'm going with you." She crossed her arms, her voice strong and steady. "We don't know what's in the northeast quadrant. You shouldn't have to face it alone."

Sonic opened his mouth to argue but was stopped by the blaring of an alarm. The monitor in front of Shadow gleamed an angry red, the words SECURITY BREACH flashing onto the screen. "Shit," Shadow said, "Looks like Eggman realized we know his password."

"So much for a stealthy rescue mission," Blaze deadpanned.

Shadow turned to the other two teens. "You two head to the northeast. I'll take the northwest."

"You sure?" Sonic asked.

Shadow shrugged a shoulder. "We don't really have time for a better plan."

Behind him, Sonic could feel Blaze take a step towards the corridor, clearly itching to get going, but he couldn't stop himself from adding on to the exchange. "We'll find you once we're done."

Be careful.

Something shone in Shadow's eyes that Sonic couldn't quite identify. "Likewise."

With the base on high alert, the three went their separate ways.


Shadow was really ready to get this whole "switching powers" thing fixed.

He liked to think he was rather flexible, but it was kind of difficult to roll with the punches when your abilities vary from hour to hour.

Case in point, getting down to the detainment center with Tails' abilities.

Shadow knew Tails was more than capable of holding his own, even if he didn't possess the kind of superpowers many of his friends did. But the Ultimate Lifeform was having more than a little trouble trying to figure out how exactly to use the two appendages to his advantage. He had understood how to fly immediately, but maneuvering while maintaining a decent speed proved to be challenging for the unskilled flyer. He had then settled on running towards his goal, albeit much slower than he would have liked, but even this posed its own set of problems. The tails seemed to have a mind of their own, moving the second he took his mind off of them. It wasn't so much of a problem as it was a nuisance, the unaccounted-for movement throwing him off balance as he ran.

He found himself just a little grateful Sonic wasn't there to see him make a fool of himself.

Nope. Not the time.

Despite the ever-blaring alarm creating a sense of urgency, Shadow had yet to come across a single badnik, though that was probably for the best, he thought. Considering he could barely run without falling over, he wasn't too keen to find out how he would fare against a battle bot.

He turned a corner, only to find a pack of five badniks, each ready to strike.

Jinxed it.

The first robot swung at Shadow, who jumped in the air, his overactive tails spinning wildly. It was a lot easier, he found, to avoid the bots in the air. Maneuvering wasn't that bad either, as long as he didn't move too fast. He dodged yet another blow, but this time answered it with an attack of his own. His kick sent it flying into another two, putting them out of commission. The remaining two bots made a grab for him, but he slid underneath them, finishing them with a kick to the wall.

Huh. Maybe he wasn't completely incapable.

He continued the path he had been on before the interruption, delving deeper into the base. He was sure he must be getting close, but he wished he had examined the map a bit more closely before Eggman locked him out of the system.

Another corner caused him to skid to a halt. In front of him was a wall of bars, a lock indicating the location of a door. Past the bars, chained to the back wall was-

"Silver," Shadow said, pressing his face to the bars.

The younger boy glanced up at the noise, his eyes alight with excitement at the sight of him. "Shadow!"

Shadow sized him up a bit, relieved to see no signs of injury or harm. He was clad with the purples and pinks of Blaze's usual attire. "Are you alright?" Shadow asked.

Silver's face fell a little, eyes hardening. "I'm fine, but Eggman took Tails. I don't know where he is."

Something stirred inside Shadow, the knowledge that Sonic and Blaze were headed towards the unknown room, but he pushed it aside. "Don't worry," he said, finding it rather difficult to sound even remotely comforting, "Sonic and Blaze are looking for him right now. I'm gonna get you out of here." He took a step back, taking a good look around the room. "Somehow," he muttered, more to himself than Silver.

There wasn't much on his side of the room other than a small table, covered in various papers and knick-knacks. Shadow rolled his eyes at the sight but approached it anyway. Maybe Eggman had left something useful in the mess, like a key.

After sifting through the clutter, he didn't find a key, but he did come away with a couple of paperclips, which would be more than adequate for his needs.

He twisted the clips around, eyeing the lock as he approached it. Just as he had a million times at Rouge's apartment, he inserted the paper clips and picked the lock. A few seconds later, the door swung open.

"You can pick locks?" Silver cried incredulously as Shadow began undoing his chains.

"Rouge rubbed off on me a bit." Silver's bindings fell to the ground. Shadow tossed the clips to the side and helped him up. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Silver didn't move. "Wait, 'out of here?'" he asked, "We have to find Blaze and Sonic."

Shadow's eyes narrowed in confusion. "We will," he explained, "Once they've found Tails. If we stay here much longer, Robotnik and his badniks will find us."

As he spoke, Silver shook his head more and more rapidly with each word. "No, you don't understand! Tails and I weren't leverage," he cried, "We're bait!"

That made Shadow pause. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly, that bad feeling settling once more in his stomach.

"When Tails and I tried to escape, we found these things, these pods," Silver explained, fiddling with his fingers nervously, "Tails said he thought they were connected to the machine, the one that messed up our powers. We overheard Eggman, too. He doesn't care about the emeralds. He just wants to catch us all."

Shadow thought back to the unknown room where he had sent Sonic and Blaze. Little to no information on the place. Holding capabilities.

"You said there were pods?" he repeated slowly, an overwhelming feeling of dread sinking into his body.

Silver seemed to catch onto his distress. He shook his head. "You don't think-"

"You're right," Shadow said, "We need to find Sonic and Blaze. Now."


After passing through four corridors, Sonic and Blaze had accrued quite the entourage of badniks. Blaze had tried to destroy as many robots as possible, but they just kept coming, and it became apparent that they would never get to their destination if they didn't move on.

Sonic had mostly kept to the air, making use of Rouge's wings. Together, they dodged the constant barrage of attacks, but Sonic became increasingly aware that they couldn't keep this up for much longer.

This was made even more clear once another wall of robots appeared in front of them, pinning the two in the middle of the hall. It was starting to look a little hopeless. Blaze had Shadow's powers, but she wasn't used to using them and Sonic was even less skilled at using Rouge's.

Sonic could only hope that Shadow wasn't as trapped as they were.

The two teens backed into each other, preparing for the inevitable onslaught. But just as the robots were about to descend on them, they both saw it: an opening. A quick glance at each other was all it took for them to pounce on it, mowing through the robots in their path. The bots continued their pursuit, but it was easier for Blaze and Sonic to defend themselves in a more open area.

Blaze spin dashed into a bot approaching Sonic. "Thanks," he said.

But instead of continuing to bust bots, she held out the gamer gem to him. "Here, take this. You go ahead. I'll hold off the bots."

"What?" He shook his head. "No, I'm not leaving you!"

She held the emerald out again, this time with more force, shoving it into his arms. "We're trying to find Silver and Tails," she said quickly, "We can't do that while being chased by badniks."

She was right. Sonic knew she was right. He could see the badniks advancing behind them. He nodded, holding the emerald close, and turned away, running towards the northeast.

The rest of the halls were oddly quiet, not a single badnik in sight. The crowd that had been after them must have been a large portion of the base's force. Sonic could only hope there was less security wherever he was headed.

After a few more minutes of traversing, he seemed to be in the right place. Had he not been looking for it, he would have passed right by it, the door to the room no more remarkable than anything else in the base. But, once inside, its difference was made apparent. The majority of the room was taken up by these metallic capsules, wires lining the floor around them. Sonic examined the things in confusion, before remembering what Shadow had said. If this area had "holding capabilities," then-

Sonic nearly dropped the gamer gem as he rushed to peek into the pods, his previous bewilderment replaced with horror as he realized one of his friends was in these things.

One of them, near the middle, he noticed, was closed, its contents unable to be seen. He bolted over to it and began frantically pressing the buttons on the control panel, trying to pry it open. At last, it unlocked with a hiss and Sonic pulled the doors free.

There, curled into himself, eyes closed, lay Tails.

Sonic reached in and pulled his younger brother out of his cage, trying to ignore his ever-growing panic. (He's not moving, he's not moving, he's not moving.) Other than the apparent unconsciousness, the younger boy seemed unharmed, clad in a regal, white, similar to Elise. Sonic held him close and felt relief wash over him as he felt Tails' steady breathing. Tails stirred at the movement. "Hey," Sonic said softly, "I gotcha, buddy."

Tails opened his eyes and squinted up at him. "Sonic?" he asked, his voice small, "You found me?"

Goddamn, this kid was gonna make him cry.

Instead, he let out a light chuckle. "'Course I did," he said softly, "Couldn't leave behind my best bud." He set him down, letting the younger boy steady his footing. He knelt down to face him. "You alright?"

Tails nodded, rubbing his eyes a bit. "'M fine."

"Okay." Sonic stood back up, grabbing the younger's hand. "C'mon, we gotta get you outta here." He tugged lightly on Tails' hand, leading him toward the exit.

Tails followed at first, but then stopped suddenly, pulling back his hand. "Wait," he said, "No, we can't leave yet!"

"Fox boy is right, Sonic," a sinister voice said from the other side of the room. Sonic instinctively pushed Tails behind him. "Leaving so soon?"

The two turned to see Doctor Eggman, perched in one of his many mechs. However, it wasn't that which sent a shock of fear through Sonic. It was the sight of the two hostages held within the large, metal hands of the mech, one in each.

Both Sonic and Tails cried out at the same time.

"Shadow!"

"Silver!"

Sonic could see the both of them struggling, Silver's fingertips bursting with small flames, but to no avail. Eggman let out a loud cackle. "Found some of your little friends, Sonic! And," he said, a malicious glint in his eye, "I brought a few of my own."

The walls themselves seemed to open up, badniks pouring into the room. Sonic backed up, Tails behind him. He kept steady, but inside, he was filled with the overwhelming knowledge that he couldn't do anything. He couldn't fight off this horde of enemies with only Rouge's abilities. He couldn't protect Tails while they were surrounded like this. He couldn't save Shadow and Silver from the doctor's grasp.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

Sonic used the bat wings on his back to gain some momentum, kicking at the approaching robots. He could hear the clanging of metal behind him from Tails' own attacks, but it was quickly replaced by a quick yelp. There was a rush of air behind him and he turned to see Tails in the grip of one of the bots. "Tails!" Sonic cried, only to feel cold metal grab a hold of him as well.

With his nemesis at his mercy, Eggman's grin was sickly sinister, a deep chuckle leaving his lips. "You kids keep makin' the same mistakes. I'm not fucking stupid! Not that I'm complaining," he said, preening his mustache, "Four is quite a prize."

"How about another five?" A voice asked from the other side of the room. Robotnik seemed surprised, turning quickly to see the source, and Sonic craned his neck as well, grinning once he caught sight of it.

At the entrance to the room stood Blaze, beside her, Amy, wearing Sonic's own clothes. Behind them, he could see their other friends: Knuckles with Amy's mallet in hand, Rouge powering up Silver's gloves, and Elise with Knuckles' red boxing gloves.

Blaze cracked a smug smile at the doctor's surprise. She glanced over at the girl beside her. "After you, Amy."

Amy smiled broadly. "Let's get him!"

Amy didn't hesitate to go after the doctor, spin dashing into his mech immediately. She must have done a fair amount of damage, the robot dropping Silver and Shadow after the first hit. Rouge and Knuckles rushed over, helping to defend their recently-freed friends.

Blaze, on the other hand, went for the robots holding Sonic and Tails, the bots dropping them as soon as the blur passed. She did not stop and linger, though, moving on to destroy even more of the enemies. Sonic stood back to back with Tails, the two of them ready for any badniks coming their way. Despite basically being in the same position he had been mere minutes ago, Sonic couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. He could hear the sounds of his friends taking on their own packs of badniks and, despite the odd nature of the entire situation, reveled in the normalcy of it all.

"Sonic, look out!" a voice cried out from behind him. Sonic turned, only to see a badnik swinging towards him, getting closer and closer. He cringed away from the blow, knowing he couldn't dodge it in time, only to hear a dull thud. He looked up, only to see a white, shimmering shield holding back the robot. Below it was Tails, arms up to the shield, wisps of the white stuff emitting from his fingertips.

"What? Tails?" Sonic stuttered out, "You can use Elise's magic? How are you doing that?"

"I don't know!" Tails said, straining as he held up the shield.

The badnik swung at the shield again, causing another shockwave on the magic. Tails buckled at the blow but held the shield strong. "Well, whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" With Tails covering his back, he could better protect the two of them in the front. He kicked at a few badniks, satisfied with the damage he was doing until Blaze sped by, taking out the last of the bots. She stopped in front of him, eyebrow raised.

"Show off," he grumbled.

A shadow of a smirk crossed her face. "Looks like you did need some help."

He shrugged and chuckled. "You're starting to get through to me. It's a good thing you showed up when you did."

"Don't thank me," Blaze admitted, "If Amy hadn't helped me with the badniks and gathered Rouge, Knuckles, and Elise, I wouldn't have been of much help."

From the other side of the room, Amy called, "Where's Eggman?"

Sonic whipped his head around, finding no trace of the doctor anywhere. His mech lay destroyed and abandoned, but the man was nowhere to be found.

Knuckles seemed to come to the same conclusion. "He must've escaped. Goddamn coward."

Sonic smiled to himself, then stopped, a simple realization hitting him.

Me, Tails, Blaze, Silver, Amy, Shadow, Knuckles, Elise, Rouge.

Nine in total.

The realization seemed to hit the rest of his friends, everyone moving towards the center and each other.

"Blaze!" Silver called, dashing towards the taller girl. She let out a rare, genuine smile at the sight that didn't disappear, even when Silver crashed into her with a tight hug.

Rouge and Shadow had met up as well, their reunion much less dramatic than that of Silver and Blaze. "You doin' alright?" Rouge asked, pushing Shadow's bangs out of his eyes, "Didn't do anything too stupid?"

Shadow shrugged. "I guess that depends on your definition of stupid."

But Sonic wasn't paying attention to any of that. He was focused on the two on the other side of the room, now making their way over to him and Tails.

"Sonic! Tails!" Amy called happily, rushing over to them, Sonic's super-speed serving her well. She had kept most of his wardrobe the same, but it seemed she had fashioned his bandana into a headband, the red cloth tied into her hair.

Tails matched the older girl's excitement, running forward as well. "Amy!" They met in the middle with a hug.

Sonic strode forward towards his three friends. "Hey, Ames, Knux."

Knuckles smiled and crossed his arms. "I see you managed to survive without your speed, needle mouse."

"Knock on wood, Knux," Sonic pointed out, "We don't have our powers back yet."

Amy jumped up, pulling the four of them close together in a forceful group hug. "We're back! We're all together again!" Her face scrunched into a joyful grin.

Sonic rolled his eyes a little but smiled. "Missed you too, Ames."

They pulled out of their embrace, the rest of the group gathered. "What now?" Elise asked.

"Now," Sonic said, crossing his arms, "We get outta here."

Tails tugged on his arm. "Wait, Sonic-"

Sonic sighed. "Tails, Eggman's not gonna help us."

"I know!" Tails insisted, "I can fix our powers!"

Sonic stopped, looking back at Tails. "What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked.

Tails looked up at Sonic a little hesitantly before beginning. "Before he put me in the pod, Eggman was holding me in the computer room. I watched him rebuild it," he explained, "I know how to use it!"

Sonic looked around uncertainly at the others. "What d'you need us to do?"

There was that intelligent glint in Tails' eyes as he spoke, the encouragement fueling him. "Eggman created separate chambers for each of the emeralds after the reaction they had last time. We gotta get each of the emeralds to their chambers. Once they're there, I can reprogram the machine to return our powers."

"Where are the chambers?" Amy asked.

"The northwest and southeast quadrants," Tails said, "The third one's in the lab with the rest of the machine. They'll be pretty secure. You'll have to break in."

Rouge put a hand to her chin in thought. "We're furthest from the northwest, so the fastest of us should go there."

Elise stepped forward. "I can go with Tails in case there are bots," she said, gesturing to Knuckles' boxing gloves.

"Amy and I have Sonic and Shadow's speed," Blaze said, crossing her arms, "We can take Rouge to the northwest quadrant."

"Sonic and I can take Silver to the southeast one," Shadow offered.

Sonic did a mental count of the groups and glanced over at the only unassigned member. "Knux, you good to go with Tails and Elise?"

"You know it," he said with a nod.

"When you're done," Tails continued, "Get back to the computer room at the center. The machine's gotta be able to target you to work. That's why Eggman trapped us the first time."

Everyone began to move in the direction of their groups, but instead Sonic walked over to Tails. "You'll need this," he said, bending down and handing him the gamer gem. Tails looked up at him quizzically. "Shadow's already got the piss rock," Sonic explained.

"Oh," Tails said, taking the clear emerald, "Thanks."

"Are you sure about this?" Sonic asked, "I know you were stressed out about this, but we don't gotta try it if you're not sure. We can figure something else out."

Tails gave a small smile. "I know, but I think I've got this." He shrugged. "I'm too smart for my own good, right?"

The corner of Sonic's mouth twitched upwards. "Something like that." He gave his younger brother a tight hug and stood up, making eye contact with Knuckles. "You'll keep an eye on him?"

Knuckles scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Of course. What do you take me for?"

Sonic couldn't help the laugh that escaped his mouth. He elbowed the older boy. "It's good to see you, Knux."

Rouge made her goodbye to Shadow brief. "I'll see you in a bit." She began to walk over to where Blaze and Amy were, only to see Knuckles' gaze on her. "Why the long face, Red?" she said, taking his hands, "It'll just be a few minutes."

"Be careful," he said seriously.

"Aren't I always?" she said with a grin, "Besides, I'll be with Blaze and Amy. With Shadow and Blue's speed, nothing will be able to catch us."

Knuckles nodded slowly in response. Sensing his lack of certainty, she leaned forward and kissed him.

Sonic and Shadow's eyes both grew wide as they watched the scene unfold. "That-" Sonic couldn't even formulate his thoughts into anything coherent. "That's new."

Shadow seemed to be facing a similar problem. "Uh-huh."

Rouge pulled away from their kiss and raised an eyebrow. "See you in a few," she whispered.

With that, each trio went their separate ways into Eggman's base.


tbh i've spent so long writing that chap i have no idea if it's even coherent

guys, i have had the worst sonic brainrot. i need the movie to come out so bad it's not even funny

in other news, one of my friends found their xbox 360, so I've started playing sonic 06. terrible game, but I'm having so much fun. i am now officially a gamer

it would be really cool if y'all could comment. there's only one more chapter of this thing, so i'd really like to hear what you've thought so far, but even if you don't comment, i'd like to thank everyone who's made it to this point. i really didn't think anyone would want to read this when i started writing, so it's really cool that anyone's enjoying this

see y'all next chapter!