...
Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Forces
Act 1
Chapter 1: The Fall of Legends...
The Green Hill Zone. An entire canyon, the bright daylight reflecting its light off of the water, sparkling blue and beautiful across the entire canyon's surroundings. Sections of the taller grass slowly swayed in the light breeze as the flowers started to bloom in the daylight, the light now shining onto the various wooden structures that dotted the Zone. It was a perfect location for a getaway retreat on South Island...
...or it would have been if it wasn't for the fact a load of it was currently under sand and ruins. The once lush valley was now half dead and cracked, the remains of other kinds of Badniks and the like around the surrounding area, as well as some golden cryptic ruins protruding out of the sand or the cliff faces. Among the massive rocky brown cliffs stood gigantic pyramids, and now there were cacti growing among the regular flora of the Zone.
Of course, the zone wouldn't be deserted, as a blue and a purple blur ripped across the sand before soon ripping up to the top of a checkerboard rock peak. The figures would stop at the peak, looking out over the zone altogether. One of the two was dressed in a red and white jacket with black fingerless gloves, red high-ankle shoes with black tips and a pair of yellow-tinted sunglasses, flipped down, well complementing his blue fur and quills and emerald-green eyes, the right of which had a scar across it. A red bag was slung over his shoulder, and his quills were swaying lightly in the breeze of the canyon. The other was clearly a lavender-skinned eastern water dragon, wearing a tight-fitting blue vest that cut off at the midriff, blue shorts with a red sash around her waist and a yellow string with a five-point flower knot. Her horns were curved back a bit partially covered darker lavender hair a chunk of it being her bangs hanging over her left eye, both eyes being a crimson color. Her blue boots extended up to her knees and had gold soles with what looked like small golden wings on the side. Wrapped around her neck and covering a bit of her lower face was a large crimson scarf, slightly worn from old age, the tail end as long as her twin tendrils reaching down to her ankles. Attached to the sides of her head and compressing where her ears would be a pair of headphone-styled crystal energy chargers; the titanium frame styled in a swooping spiral, with the blue containment picket for the crystals on top of that.
The dragon whistled. "Hoooooly shit, what could've came through here to turn this place into a dry zone?" She spoke, looking over the sand-coated valley. "This sand is more than enough to keep a glass blowing company intact!"
"You got that right..." The hedgehog replied. "A desert like this doesn't just pop up overnight, especially in a tropical place like this..."
"This is so weird..." The dragon spoke. "This is like the other areas on Avalice and Mobius that got super messed up by out of place climates; Shuigang becomes frozen over and a factory pops up there, Pangu Lagoon becomes unbearably humid and flooded, Westside Island becomes a volcanic hazard... and that's just a few of the incidents going on."
"Y'know..." The hedgehog replied. "This is kinda reminding me of the Lost Hex..."
"How so Sonic?" The dragon asked.
"Well..." Sonic said. "The various ruin and pyramid structures are familiar to those in Desert Ruins Zone on the Lost Hex, a 'garbage dump' planet more or less. All this sand, the ruin hills in certain places-" A roar sounded before a massive sandworm came leaping out of the sand and crashing down onto a lower cliff face, collapsing the entire structure and burrowing into the ground. "...not to mention those sandworms are native to Desert Ruins Zone..."
The dragon would think. "So... it's like Green Hill got merged with Desert Ruins?"
"Seems like it." Sonic answered. "So... what more should we explore of the area?"
"Have we checked what's accessible of the underground caverns?" The dragon spoke.
"Not yet." Sonic said, crossing his arms. "But I don't wanna hang around there for long if those sandworms are still loose."
"Point taken." The dragon spoke. Soon enough the cell phone on the dragon's belt started vibrating, catching her attention. Without hesitation, she slipped it out and picked up the call.
"Hello, this is Sash Lilac of AvaMerc speaking." The dragon spoke, before smiling a bit. "Oh, Milla! I was wondering when I'd hear from yo- oh, is everyone alright?" She spoke, becoming serious while talking on the phone. "...I see. Don't worry, Sonic and I will be there as soon as we can." She spoke. "...alright, just hold out for a bit. Love ya sis. Seeya." She finished, hanging up. "We got trouble." She spoke to Sonic.
"Let me guess; robot attack?" Sonic spoke.
Sash nodded.
"Large amount has Milla cornered?"
Sash nodded again.
"Civilian Mobians at stake?"
Sash nodded a third time.
"Eggman leading the charge?"
"For ancestor's sake Sonic!" Sash growled. "This is serious!"
"I know." Sonic said, thumbing his nose. "I just wanted all the details. So shall we?"
Sash smirked in response. "Let's do it..."
"...to it!" Sonic finished, taking off down the cliff face with Sash right behind him. Thanks to that sandworm collapsing the hill, the duo shot straight into the underground caverns underneath Green Hill. The foliage all down here was dead, and now there was more evidence that there were ruins like Desert Ruins Zone around the area, along with torches sticking out of the sand entirely and light filtering down from the above areas as sandfalls continued to flow throughout the caverns.
Sonic whistled as the two ran. "Worse down here than I thought. Everything down here's choked out from the lack of water."
"Damn shame too, this place was once so beautiful..." Sash spoke, before a plasma shot whizzed by her head. Her eyes darted back to confirm her suspicions; Buzzbombers, some still using their normal Eggman designs, however some of them looked a lot more... barren, containing only a single unblinking red eye and complete lack of antennae, and being a lot more plain in design as a whole.
"Looks like Eggs Benedict couldn't wait..." Sash growled, before calling to Sonic. "Buzzbombers! Watch your six!"
"Got it! Split up!" Sonic said, heading through a loop down a different path. "I'll meet you out by the cavern exit!"
Sash gave a small salute as half of the Buzzbombers went after him. She then glanced back, looking at the set of robotic bees chasing her as another plasma shot whizzed by her head, merely singing the tip of the bangs.
"Alright, you wanna burn my bangs?" Sash taunted. "Let's see ya burn rubber!" She growled, curling into a ball and soon shooting forward in a sparkling dash as the bees tailed her. Sash soon ducked under a stone overhang, which two of the Buzzbombers merely crashed into while the other three flew over it.
"Hmmm, didn't shake all of 'em..." She mumbled to herself as she soon blasted through a sandfall, the Buzzbombers continuing their chase. Sash got a lightbulb idea and soon hit a spring, blasting up through a hole in the ground as the Buzzbombers tried to chase after her; two more of them bashed into the sides of the caverns, leaving her with just one pursuer.
"There's always that one asshole..." The dragon growled to herself as she blasted through the sand towards the exit of the cavern, the Buzzbomber still in pursuit and now firing like mad. Sash kept dodging out of the way of the shots before a blue blur soon smashed through the other Buzzbomber, causing the dragon to skid to a halt. Standing the wreckage of the Buzzbomber was none other than Sonic, holding the Buzzbomber's head.
"See you were having a bit of trouble, were ya?" Sonic said, tossing the Buzzbomber's head behind him.
"I had it under control." Sash spoke, crossing her arms.
"Suuuuure." Sonic said, slyly grinning. "Now c'mon! Let's get to Station Square!"
"Right!" Sash replied, running after Sonic back out into the open. The sun still shined bright on them as they raced across the desert floor before they heard a loud metallic screeching before a massive figure leaped out from behind a massive rock face and roared, revealing itself to be a gigantic eight legged crab robot, soon scuttling fast after the two over the desert floor.
"WOAH!" Sonic yelled, dodging out of the way of a thrown rock debris from the scuttling crab chasing them. "Now that's a huge one!"
"We can't let it get to the city! It'll wreck the place!" Sash spoke. "We need to find a way to get it off our tail!"
"Right!" Sonic said, soon taking a ledge upwards and running ahead. "I'll look for a way to take it down! You just gotta keep it distracted!"
"Got it!" Sash answered as Sonic zoomed ahead.
"Alright, alright..." Sonic muttered to himself. "Now what's the fastest way to wreck something of that size..." Soon enough he looked ahead and saw several diamond-shaped sinkholes in the sand, and a lightbulb went off in his head. "Got it!" Sonic said as he rushed back towards Sash's position.
"Sash!" Sonic yelled, soon skidding around and running alongside her. "We got some sinkholes up ahead! With the size of this thing, it's gotta be super heavy enough to cause the thing to collapse entirely!"
"Good thinking!" Sash spoke. "Let's blaze 'em!" She said before taking off ahead, Sonic soon trailing behind him as the gigantic crab robot continued its chase. The duo then skidded over the sinkholes, their combined weight not enough to set it off quite... but a crab mech weighing in at neatly 3 tons set it off, causing the robot to flail wildly as it started to sink in.
Sonic smirked, skidding to a halt. "Well, that oughta take care of that problem."
Sash smirked with him. "Nothin' like a little Eggman destruction to-" She was cut off as a massive sandworm burst from the ground, clenching the crab mech in its mouth and crashing down back into the sand, collapsing the ground around the sinkholes and making a massive hole back into the caverns. "...whet my appetite... heh, maybe not the best choice of words considering what just happened..."
"Yeah..." Sonic said, his spines tingling. "And I'm feeling he's wanting dessert! Let's beat it!" He said before the two took off for the exit to the Zone...
"Get down!" A voice yelled as a missile blast hit the side of a building, causing it to collapse into the already ruined city. That voice belonged to a female basset hound, her messy orange hair had been somewhat tied back into a small fraying ponytail at the back of her head long ears with twin green crystalline marks on them, and a black mark under each of her jade green eyes. Wrapped around her bust were compressive chest wraps, keeping her breasts close to her body. She also wore a pair of black compression shorts with orange trim. Cuffed around her wrists and ankles were a pair of inhibitor rings. "Everyone, stay back!" She cried as she raised a green defensive shield to block several Mobians as the Egg Pawns in front of her opened fire.
"Just give it up, Basset." Robotnik said from his Egg-o-Matic, sitting back. "Your group has no change now."
"We'll see about that!" The basset growled before releasing a Shield Burst, shredding the Egg Pawns entirely.
"You act as if I'm worried about that." Robotnik grinned as more soon came to take their places, their guns ready to open fire. The basset gasped and raised another shield as the Egg Pawns opened fire, others charging with their lances and striking the shield. The several Mobian and human citizens behind her seemed to cower as the Egg Pawns continued their attack...
...and then a blur of blue and purple came through and smashed apart the rest of the Egg Pawns, soon stopping in front of the green shield, revealing it to be Sonic and Sash.
Sonic smirked. "You called?"
Milla sighed in relief, dropping the shield. "You showed up at the right time." She spoke. "Any longer, I thought we woulda been goners."
"Have some faith in us Milla." Sash spoke, glancing behind her. "Get the civilians out of here, we'll deal with ol' Eggs Benedict."
Milla nodded, leading the other Mobians and humans away as Sonic and Sash turned around. "Well well, long time no see Eggman!"
"Shut up." Robotnik merely replied. "I was wondering when you little two pin cushions would show up."
"Heyheyhey, only one of us here is a pin cushion!" Sash responded. "Now, what's with you going and attacking heavily populated areas like this? Seems like a bit out of your usual antics doesn't it?"
"That's what you think." Robotnik spoke. "This is all part of my plan."
"Plan?" Sonic teased. "What plan? After your last Death Egg blew up I thought you went into hiding!"
"Well, truth be told, I did." Robotnik answered, grinning. "However, let's just say I had a bit of a... fortunate incident happen."
"Eh, won't save you from an ass-kicking as usual!" Sonic said, charging up a Spin-Dash and moving straight at the mad doctor. Robotnik merely grinned before a masive hulking red figure dropped from above, spiking the hedgehog spinball straight into the ground, making a small crater. Sonic popped out of the crater to see the familiar features; the hulking red muscles, the spiked jawline, the horns, the spiky cyan ponytail and eyebrows...
"Well well... long time no see, hedgehog." The figure spoke.
Sonic merely smirked. "Well well, nice to see you too Zavok!" Sonic shot back. "I thought I sent you and your sorry pack of Zeti losers packing after I trashed you on the Lost Hex!"
"You'd be a fool to think so." Zavok responded, cracking his knuckles. "Now hold still while I crack your skull." He growled, lunging forward with his fists and smashing the ground right where Sonic was.
"Sorry, you're gonna have to be a little faster than that." Sonic countered, slamming into Zavok's backside and throwing him forward. The prideful Zeti growled before lunging at Sonic again, bringing his fist down towards the hedgehog. Sonic merely sidestepped out of the way as Zavok brought his fist down before the hedgehog delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. Zavok grabbed Sonic's foot mid-kick and whiled him around, soon throwing him straight into the side of a building, breaking the concrete and leaving a massive indentation in it.
"Alright, alright, I see you've still got some tricks up your sleeves!" Sonic said, getting up from the collision. "I can deal with this!"
"Euugh!" Sash yelled, Sonic looking over to see her currently being attacked by literal moving water. "Get your crummy wet mitts off of me!"
"Chaos?!" Sonic yelled, being distracted for long enough for Zavok to clobber him in the side of the head.
"Eeeeuch!" Sash said, Dragon Boosting out of the water. "I'd prefer to not have my clothes get wet, but seems like that's not gonna be an option!"
Chaos would reform back into its base 0 form, soon throwing an extended punch at the dragon. Sash ducked out of the way before sending a nasty tendril slice upwards at the arm, slicing the hand of the arm off as it splashed into a puddle on the ground. Chaos merely looked at the water before it slinked over and reformed back onto the destruction god's body.
"So he can reform..." Sash mumbled to herself. "Well, then he's gotta have a weak spot somewhere..." Her eyes narrowed, looking over the water creature as she dodged another watery slug from it. Seeing the floating pink brain core in its head, she decided to take a chance with that before charging at the watery figure. Chaos then threw a massive watery punch straight for Sash, but the dragon barely managed to dodge out of the way before colliding a kick to the brain core. Chaos didn't like that, as it collapsed into a mere puddle of water, starting to slink away before remorphing a few meters away from the dragon girl.
"Whassa matter, didn't like that, ya big drip?" Sash taunted, causing Chaos to lunge at her. Sash smirked before charging up a Dragon Boost, directing herself straight upwards right into Chaos's brain core again, splattering the watery figure into shambles. The droplets reformed again before the watery figure slunk away to a sewer drain.
"That's what I thought..." Sash smirked to herself as Zavok landed in a gigantic heap next to her, Sonic standing on top of him.
"Heh, same Zavok as ever. All bark and no bite." Sonic said, thumbing his nose, before looking to Robotnik. "Well, I dunno how you managed to get Chaos back on your side of all things, especially since last I saw him he was moving on to the afterlife with Tikal."
"That's for me to know and for you to... well, never." Robotnik answered, hitting a button on his pod, sending a silent signal.
"Well we're gonna find it out regardless!" Sonic said, before his dragon partner let out a shriek. Sonic glanced back to see her struggling with her arms being held behind her back, being held there by a metal counterpart.
"What the-" Was what the hedgehog said before he felt his arms pinned behind his back by his own metal counterpart. "Well so ya finally decided to make more than one metal counterpart huh? Color me impressed!"
"Silence." Metal Sonic merely responded before whacking him in the back of the neck.
"As for why I say never, well..." Robotnik smirked, snapping his fingers. "My new acquaintance will show you why."
"Oh yeah?" Sash growled, squirming a bit, starting to get a bit loose. "And who might that be?"
"Me." A voice responded before the large hound figure, now with the new pointed mask with red-tinted cracked eyeholes, descended from out of view to in front of the two, a burning aura of red surrounding him.
Sonic smirked. "This edgelord is gonna stop us?" He said, soon breaking free of Metal Sonic. "Heh, I'll have this over in a quick-" He was interrupted when the hound figure sidestepped out of the way faster than Sonic could hit him. "..sec?"
'He's faster than Sonic?' Sash thought. 'No... that can't be right...'
"Dodge." The hound figure said, before moving faster than the hedgehog could react and delivering a smashing kick into the side of his face, sending him crashing into a wall harder than Zavok's collision did.
By that point Sash had broken out of her counterpart's grip and Dragon Boosted faster than the figure could react... but the figure had surprisingly reacted faster than Sash had expected, palming the Dragon Boost before slamming Sash into the ground. The dragon growled hard before she got back up, throwing a flurry of combat kicks and punches along with tendril slices, but the figure could keep up, blocking the attacks before slamming his fist hard into her gut, knocking the wind out of her entirely. Sash collapsed to the ground, unable to breathe...
"Well well, I am impressed my associate!" Robotnik said, pleased. "However... how are you going to dispose of them?"
"A little special something possible with the Ruby's power..." The figure replied as several small red cubes formed and picked up the two injured and beaten heroes off the ground.
"Y...you're not getting away from this..." Sash weakly spoke, unable to move from the cube's grip.
"Oh but we are!" Robotnik spoke. "Read it and weep you miserable lizard! You LOST!"
Sonic squirmed. "We're not giving up that easily!" He growled.
"I am aware of that..." The massive figure spoke. "And that is why there is a special place for your kind..." He said, forming a small dark orb in his palm.
Sash tensed up. "And what might that be?" She growled.
"It's a little something known as... Null Space." The figure spoke. "Something possible with the power of the Phantom Ruby... a closed-off space where nothing ever exists."
Robotnik grinned. "Goodbye Sonic and Sash, my soon-to-be-erradicated nemeses. Enjoy all the nothing!" He spoke as the figure brought the orb between the two. Both Sonic and Sash tried to squirm harder, but the extent of their injuries was just making them more tired. The figure then shot a small red orb at the black one, soon causing it to expand into a harsh-sucking black hole. The cubes holding the duo dissipated as they were sucked into the void, their screams becoming silent as the void to Null Space shut...
Robotnik merely laughed maniacally. "Yes! Oh yes! Finally! The menacing blue hedgehog is finally out of my way!" He rejoiced.
"And by the time they ever get out, if ever..." The figure said. "It will be too late for the-" He was interrupted as a green cube collided with the side of his head. He looked over to see that the attacker was none other than an enraged Milla, Phantom Cubes and Phantom Spheres in hand.
"You... you MONSTER!" She yelled, firing off all her attacks at the figure at the same time. The figure looked unamused as he soon dodged out of the way before driving his fist right into the basset's liver. Milla gasped as her body collapsed, grabbing her torso in pain.
"Amusing, but sloppy in execution." The figure spoke. "What do we do with this one, doctor?"
"Eh, just throw her in the prison hold. I have a perfect cell for her..." Robotnik grinned as the figure picked up the weakened basset hound...
Dull thuds and pain were spread all across the dragon's body as she hit the ground hard. "AAaaaahhnn..." she groaned through her teeth as she started to get up, gripping her head in pain. "Oh ancestors... my head..."
"Y-you okay Sash?" A voice said as Sash felt a hand on her shoulder. The dragon looked over to see none other than her hedgehog partner trying to help her up.
"A little sore... owww..." She groaned, getting to her feet with Sonic's help. "Where... where are we?"
"Apparently something called 'Null Space' if Eggman's claim is anything to go by..." Sonic said, soon both him and Sash looking out into the surrounding area; a deep swirling void, spreading out towards no specific point in any direction, swirling columns connecting the infinitely stretching floor and ceiling of the dimension. Several dark purple cubes seemed to float in the absolute nothingness; the same cubes that made up their very foothold. Electrical bolts would seem to strike far off in the distance at certain points...
"He said nothing ever exists here?" Sash asked.
"Well first of all, his claim's not been made bullshit since we exist in here." Sonic said. "Secondly, there's gotta be some escape from here somewhere!"
"But... how?" Sash spoke. "This place seems to extend off towards nothing... and we barely have any room to run!"
"Hmmmm..." Sonic said, approaching the edge of the platform and hopping down... only to land on another platform of cubes that materialized under his feet. "...huh. Guess the ground only forms when we're close."
Sash lept down next to Sonic. "Well... what do we do?"
"Find a way out." Sonic said, charging up a Super Peel-Out. "Let's start searching!"
Sash nodded, charging up a Super Peel-Out of her own before the two took off into the space, the ground forming underneath them as they ran. The terrain itself seemed to act more natural, sloping like the normal world would as the two continued their run. However, as the minutes went by, their hopes had started to fall as there was seemingly no way out of the closed off space...
Sash skidded to a halt. "...he was right." She spoke. "There really is no way out..."
"..." Sonic remained silent.
"Sonic... what do we do now?"
"...I don't know." Sonic spoke. "There's nothing we can do now except wait."
"Wait?" Sash spoke as she saw the hedgehog sit down. "Wait for what?"
"I have faith the rest of our team will find our way to get us out of here." Sonic spoke. "We just need to bide our time."
"...right." Sash spoke, sitting down next to the hedgehog. "Well... at least we have eachother, right?"
Sonic would give a sad smile. "True that..." He said, lightly hugging the dragon.
'Green' Hill, several hours after the incident in Station Square...
A massive explosion resounded as the side of a massive pyramid base exploded, a massive hulking robot appearing in the hole blown in the side of it, crimson in color with a golden hood, and currently firing twin miniguns at the hordes of Egg Pawns coming at him. "WORTHLESS CONSUMER MODELS." The robot said, continuing it's fire.
"Dammit Omega! This is an infiltration mission!" An annoyed voice said through his built-in comm unit. "Stealth! STEALTH! We don't know what Eggman plans to do with that basset girl!"
"THERE WILL BE NO RISK IF THERE ARE NO EGGMAN ROBOTS TO INITIATE THAT RISK." The robot, Omega, spoke. "ALL EGGMAN'S ROBOTS MUST BE ELIMINATED."
"Are you sure this isn't your vendetta against him speaking?" The female voice asked.
"THAT IS NOT ON YOUR ACCESS PRIVLEDGES." Omega answered.
"Look, Shadow will join in with you shortly to assist. Just... can you try not to level the place with you inside it before he gets there?" The female voice said.
"I AM MORE THAN SUFFICIENT FOR THIS MISSION ON MY OWN." Omega droned, smashing an Egg Pawn's head with his hand. "I NEED NO ASSISTANCE."
"...you're hopeless at times..." The female voice spoke.
"I WILL REMEMBER THAT ROUGE." Omega spoke as he continued to smash through Egg Pawn after Egg Pawn. Sirens were going off loudly as the destruction continued before the red-energy cloaked hound appeared.
"UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY SIGNALS DETECTED. NEW COMBAT TYPE FOUND." Omega spoke. "UNKNOWN ID."
"Unknown ID?!" The female voice, Rouge, said. "Omega, what the hell is going on in there?!"
"RELAX." Omega said, his arms morphing into missile launchers. "AS YOU MEATSACKS AND FURRIES SAY, 'I GOT DIS'."
"Omega no!" Rouge yelled. "Disengage! I repeat, DISENGAGE!"
"NEGATORY." Omega said, opening fire. "COMMENCING EXTERMINATION." The rockets exploded on collision with the hound himself, throwing a lot of smoke into the air... only to clear to reveal the hound intact, still floating there, a red glow in front of him.
"Cute." The figure said, the gem in his test starting to glow. "Now... how about I show you what true power is?"
"NO."
The figure's eyes narrowed. "Well, you're spirited, I'll give you that." He spoke, the glow from the Ruby in his chest growing. "However... that doesn't mean anything once I'll be through with you. Goodbye." With that, the Ruby let our a bright red light, overloading Omega's optics.
"ERROR. ERROR. OPTICS NON-FUNCTIONAL. OPPONENT T-ToO STROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" BZZZT!
At the edge of the cliffsides, near the massive pyramid, stood another hedgehog, black in fur and spines with red accents on the tops of the spines, tan muzzle and white chest fur, equipped with inhibitor rings and hover shoes, wearing... a red hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and a pair of shades?
"Dammit Rogue, was this really necessary for interrupting my vacation?" The hedgehog asked over the comm unit. "I swear, G.U.N. is so erratic in their mission calls..."
"Now's not the time Shadow!" Rouge said. "I've lost Omega's signal! Like, 100% lost him!"
"Hmph. As always, I have to go in and do clean-up..." The hedgehog, Shadow, muttered to himself. "I'll recontact you once I've located him."
"Please, just be careful!" Rouge spoke. "If something was able to take down Omega, who knows what they could do to you!"
"Aren't I always?" Shadow said before leaping down the cliff, a familiar green gem in hand as he warped from spire to spire, closing in on the pyramid. However, it soon would become difficult as red cubes started to materialize and shot off at the black hedgehog, smashing the ground just fractions of a second where he was before.
"The hell...?" Shadow muttered to himself. "Rouge, any readings on what kind of weapon that is?"
"Negative." Rouge responded. "The readings are all over the place. I can't get a lock on what those things are."
Shadow sighed as he smashed through a set of Egg Pawns as he closed in on the pyramid... until the glowing red figure appeared again in front of the hedgehog, causing him to skid to a halt.
"So... you must be Shadow. Shadow Robotnik." The figure spoke. "Creation of the DNA of a Mobian hedgehog and the Black Arms DNA, and nearly crashed the Space Colony ARK into Mobius to destroy it over a misguided wish from your deceased human sister."
'What?!' Shadow thought. 'How-'
"Do I know that?" The figure spoke, shaking his head. "Your kind is so naive. There are many things I know of. Much like how you will fall in what I am about to do."
"You really think you can take on me?" Shadow spoke.
"Shadow! Don't get cocky!" Rouge said through the comm unit.
"You won't be needing this." The figure said, psychically pulling Shadow's comm unit away from him and then crushing it with one hand. "No need for other prying eyes."
The hedgehog gritted his teeth as the another figure soon came down in front of him. "After all... I feel this should be a suitable opponent for you..." The new figure... it was next to impossible to tell what it was. It's face was obscured by a visor with a single red light eye at the front of it, and most of it's body was covered in armor, save for the long cyan tail-like appendage coming out from behind its body.
Shadow clenched his fists. "And just who might this be?"
"You may not know..." The figure said, rising higher into the sky. "But she is the ultimate dragon, forged in a lab and made of all five DNA structures of dragons. She is the ultimate life form..."
"Bullshit." Shadow said, clenching his fists. "I'm the ultimate life form."
"We will see..." The figure spoke. "Merga... dispose of him."
"With pleasure." The other figure spoke, soon charging at the hedgehog with her claws extended. Shadow merely dodged out of the way before delivering a roundhouse kick to the back of the dragon's head. Merga growled before her tail shifted colors to tan, slamming her tail into the ground and sending a wave of earth straight at the hedgehog.
"Chaos SPEAR!" Shadow yelled, firing a volley of Chaos energy-infused spears from his hand at the dragon. Several of the spears collided with Merga, causing her to growl in pain as her scales shifted color to red, soon breathing fire at the hedgehog. Shadow barely managed to dodge out of the way of the fire as it soon set ablaze to the grass and dead foliage, a fire starting to break out across the area.
"You won't win this." Merga spoke, soon smashing her tail into Shadow. "It's hopeless."
"I don't have the time for this." Shadow spoke, shoving the dragon away. "Stay out of my way." He said, soon taking off for the pyramid. But the lead would be short lived as Merga soon dive-kicked Shadow in the back of the head, scraping his face along the ground.
"No." The dragon responded. "Now... any last words before I gut you like the pathetic excuse of a lifeform?"
"On-one..." Shadow smirked. "Sayonara." He said, as he shed his inhibitor rings, soon starting to glow red.
"WHA-" was all that came out of Merga's mouth before a violent Chaos Blast erupted, taking part of the valley with it as a massive crater was left in its place, leaving Shadow as the only survivor... albeit unconscious. The hound figure then reappeared over the hedgehog's unconscious body.
"What did I say." He said, picking up Shadow by the head. "You would lose. Now... farewell." He said as he warped Shadow out of his hand to an unknown location...
"So, have the little intruders been taken care of?" Robotnik spoke over the hound's comm unit.
"They are gone, doctor..." The figure said. "Well, aside from one little peeping tom..."
"Not to worry." Robotnik responded. "Once the sentinels launch, they'll all be exterminated. Now, report back to base."
"As you wish." The hound said before warping away...
Times have become dire. Sonic and Sash sent to an inescapable void beyond time and space, Milla captured and imprisoned, and now Omega scrapped and Shadow sent to who knows where. With major heavy hitters out of the picture, Dr. Robotnik is starting to get the upper hand. But what of Tails and Carol? Where are they in all this? What is the Phantom Ruby's power? What happened to Omega? Tune in next time for Chapter 2: 'Fallen Worlds'...
