Chapter 8

The Canyon of Dust

"Sonic, are you sure that you'll be okay? Do you want to send in Tails because he can fly through!" Amy said hugging Sonic like never before.

"I can't risk losing my best friend in the universe and our captain. Besides, I love adventure and I want to give you another reason to have me as a hero I guess," said Sonic.

"What? I didn't know that you were concerned with being everyone's favorite hero" said Amy.

"Nevermind. You'll be seeing me again. That is certain!" said Sonic dashing away with one last look back at his friends.

Goodbye Tails, Apple, Cosmo, Knuckles, Kaira, Cream, Cheese, and Amy. I hope that I come back out. If I don't, the universe is instantly in danger… I determine the fate of the universe don't I? Ugh! I hate all this pressure on me! Whatever! I love a new challenge. It's what I live for. Okay then, I'll make it out of here in one piece for sure then! I wish for my team not to worry about me and for me to come out alive…

All of those thoughts were flying through Sonic's head as he ran off into the Canyon of Dust. The possible last thoughts. The possible last wishes. The possible last words.

"Alright snakes, scorpions, or whatever, give me your best shot! I'm only trespassing on your territory and I need to be bitten, so give me a challenge, or I'll rename the canyon 'Lamest Place on Earth'!" shouted Sonic with a smirk.

His spirit soared like an eagle on the wind. He was at one with the wind and he let its recklessness take control. Oh yeah, this is true living for Sonic.

Sonic zipped through a narrow pass. He was certain that he heard something hiss at him as he raced by. At the very end, he ran into a fountain. It was overflowing with some sort of dust thing. Sort of like pixie dust! Although, whenever it hit the ground, the ground would start to melt.

Tails had given him a pouch that was immune to the effects of the dust. Sonic got it out and was about to get a bunch of it, but stopped dead when he felt something slither around his legs. Sonic jumped in panic and filled the pouch before running off to the entrance.

Suddenly, all the snakes and scorpions seemed to start closing in on him. Sonic assumed that they were laughing at him. Each time they hissed and growled they mocked him. To Sonic they said, "What feeble attempts to avoid us! You can't run from us! Not even friends, Tails or dust can save you!" they seemed to say.

The entrance was within reach and he was bolting full speed, but right as he was out of the Canyon of Dust, he felt fangs. A poisonous barb. The poison was injected into him and he felt the effects begin to start. The past was erasing itself and he gripped his head trying to make it stop. Everything was nothing more than something that was a long lost memory.

"N-No…," Sonic forced out of his mouth before collapsing. Everything went black…

Back with the Shadow the Hedgehog,

"Rouge, how do you get someone to shut up?!" asked Shadow.

"Nothing can keep her quiet! Well, maybe if you took her mouth off, but that still wouldn't stop her," she replied.

"Look, I have an idea. You give me my motorcycle, and I crush her!" Shadow snapped far more loudly than he intended.

"Oh, were you planning on KILLING ME?! Alright, there's only one thing to do! You'll feel MORE PAIN!" shouted Zaira angrily.

"Really?"

"I know all that there is to know about meter sticks! They are always a meter long, but why a meter? I never get it. Why not have something like, a mile long meter stick? It would be a pain in the neck to carry around, but whoever makes it will get credit for individuality I suppose… And-"

"Make her SHUT UP!" Shadow shouted.

"Like I said, that's impossible!" Rouge snapped back.

"It's bad enough that she likes me, but really!? My head is going to explode!" shouted Shadow.

"Meter sticks also seem to be better when made out of wood, but how about something like, a metal one!" said Zaira.

"Listen, get on my nerves any more, and I'll snap your neck!" snapped Shadow.

"...Meter sticks are awesome! Have you ever seen one? Have you? Have you?! HAVE YOU?! Wow, the sun has nearly set! What do we do now?" asked Zaira.

"We're going to have to spend the night. You are going to either shut up and get lost, or shut up and make like a bee and buzz off!" snapped Shadow even more harshly.

"Aye captain! I shall leave your presence for a little while! I don't like sleeping on the ground. Trees are SO much better. It's like I've got the brain of a bird!" said Zaira while saluting Shadow and Rouge.

"Well, take your bird-brain and leave us alone! I've got to find a fairly nice dark tree to sleep in and only Shadow thinks that the ground is pleasant," Rouge said in reply.

"I don't have wings like you two. I also think that it builds up endurance to put up with the cold hard ground every night. See you later Rouge. Hope to see you never again Zaira," he said walking off into the darkness of the trees in the forest.

"Hmph. I suppose that I'll have to agree with Shadow on how annoying you are," Rouge said while flying off in another direction.

Zaira stood silently for a few moments in the clearing and sighed. With nobody there, she felt a deep loneliness tugging at her. She knew that feeling all too well. Bad experiences from the past flooded into her head and she had to shove them out.

"Just a little bit longer… Put up with this for a little bit longer… He'll like you too one day… Nobody's won his heart yet…, except for maybe Rouge. People never did ever agree with me…, but they never did know that I'm the one who they'd like the most. All my life I've been rejected. I only have to wait a little bit longer and he will notice something about me…"

Back at the Blue Typhoon, everyone was so concerned with Sonic that they didn't know that the Blue Typhoon had a thief aboard…

She dashed down a hallway and made a turn. Somehow she knew precisely where she was going. Her short hair was constantly flying into her eyes and her wings that were long and roundish and pointed at the end. However, the lights were off and nobody would have been able tell who it was. Her brown eyes flickered with interest for a moment.

"I'm surprised that they don't have any invisible lasers or alarms around their chaos emeralds. That only makes stealing from these guys a whole lot easier. They have three chaos emeralds, the metarex have one, and the metaltrons have the others within their possession. Well, I guess that after that idiot Zaira stole it from them and gave it to Shadow, they only have two, but no matter. Now, they have five. If the metarex have one and are working for us, then that means that we now have six. We only have to steal the chaos emerald from Shadow now… We have a plan for that right?" asked the being with a voice exactly like Kaira's to her wrist communicator.

"Why, yes commander. The only way to get it is by, well, we'll talk about it once you get back," said a metaltron voice on the other end.

"Understood. Returning with the emeralds now." she turned off the device and snagged the chaos emeralds. She smirked and turned. A camera was watching the whole thing. Finally, she jumped away.

Back with Sonic, he was just beginning to recover from the bite, but not the effects, but ever since being bitten and stung, he's been unconscious…

"Wha-? Where am I? Who am I? What happened?" asked Sonic in a dazed and confused tone of voice. His vision was sort of blurred, but soon cleared. He sat up.

"Sonic! I'm so glad that you're okay! I was so worried that the bite and sting would cause you to die, but you're alive I can't believe it! How are you feeling?" asked Amy with tears of joy streaming down her face.

Sonic tilted his head at her and glanced around as if he were wondering where he was now and then glanced back at Amy. He tried to stand up, but the bite and sting on his legs hurt too much, so he climbed back onto the bed.

"Um…, who are you again? Wait, what were we just talking about? What happened to me?" asked Sonic.

"...Tails! Sonic needs your help!" Amy screamed.

Two minutes later, Tails was there with his science stuff trying to explain to Sonic what had happened, but all he did was forget everything he said.

"Well, from what I could gather, there's only one antidote. The cure is a special plant that grows underground on this planet. Before we get that, we need to get under that manhole cover! Thankfully, Sonic got us a whole bunch of the material that we need to get through it. We tried digging, but the metarex only had more of the metal under the ground to block us from getting to it. I also think that I can make a pair of shoes that can give Sonic more intelligence for a little while. Sonic, do you want to try it?" asked Tails.

"Sure! Wait, try what?" asked Sonic.

"Nevermind. Memory shoes that run on batteries take one!" Tails yelled as he turned them on. A bright yellow light flew through them.

"Er- Wha- Tails? What happened? Where's the others? Did you get the material?!" demanded Sonic urgently.

"Yes, we did thanks to you. Everyone's here on the Blue Typhoon, and don't take off your shoes or you'll forget everything," said Tails.

"Well, that's comforting. How long was I out?" asked Sonic.

"About six days…," Amy replied sadly.

Sonic shook his head disbelievingly. When he discovered that they weren't joking, he sighed and tried to hop out of the bed again, but pain only surged through his legs again.

"Sonic, I'd recommend that you stay off of your feet for a little while. The last thing that we want is for you to open your wound. I thought that it would never start to heal, but it will leave a scar though. You're alright with that right?" asked Tails.

"Sure. The scar might make me mad, but okay. Oh, Amy, how long were you standing next to me while I was passed out? You didn't do anything did you? If you said that you did, I'm going to flip out," said Sonic.

"I think I've stood here next to you for about a day if you put all the hours I spent here together. Also, I might have done one little thing… You don't mind if I totally did hug you do you?" asked Amy. She now looked all lovey-dovey and her gaze seemed to burn into Sonic's skin.

"Er- no…," Sonic finally replied after a long pause. He was going to faint if she said kiss or anything like that, but he was okay with a hug by her. He was unconscious, but it still made him nervous. He cringed at the thought of him and Amy in the future married, and children, and totally-not-free-to-run-at-all-and-must-stay-there-and- UGH! It totally scared him. To always get slowed down by that sort of thing. He'd never again leave his house with no regrets, never get to run around like crazy without distractions, and worst of all, he would never again be truly alive, happy, or free. That more than scared him. No. Never. No matter what you do Amy, I'll never go along with it. I can't for the sake of me and the universe.

"Sonic? Why are you making those weird faces?" asked Amy with a concerned look.

"Uh…, just thinking about stuff. Don't worry. I'm fine," Sonic replied assuringly. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up. He knew that she felt better when she saw that.

"That's strange," Tails said while looking at a screen. It had a little red box flashing at the bottom of it. Sonic couldn't read it from that far away.

"What is it Tails? Is there a problem?" asked Sonic from his bed and nearly fell out from trying to see it, but couldn't.

"The power from the chaos emeralds disappeared. Well, that, or the machine detecting it simply broke, and the alarms didn't go off, so I think that the machine is only malfunctioning.

"Okay, well, let's go save the people of this planet now. I can manage fighting without using my legs. I only have to walk around on my arms and use spin attacks," said Sonic.

"Not a chance Sonic! You need to recover. We'll go save them. Rabby knows how to deactivate the metarex and Lily told us that the metarex have a weak spot on their backs. Don't worry Sonic! We'll be fine!" Tails said while leaving the room.

"Are you sure?! I'm not used to being left behind like this! Don't leave me Tails and Amy! I want to fight!" yelled Sonic.

"Stay there!" both Amy and Tails shouted in perfect sync at Sonic causing him to completely stop complaining all together. Sonic slouched on his bed and looked bored.

"Sorry Sonic, but we can't risk you getting hurt again. You need to recover. Also, the shoes, the more you use them, the faster they run out of power and we don't have any more batteries, so just keep off your feet for a while. See ya later!" Amy told Sonic before running off with Tails.

"Sorry Sonic, but we can't risk you getting hurt again, so just keep off your feet for a while. Hmph! They're making me feel like Shadow!" snapped Sonic angrily.

After a few minutes, Sonic was so bored that he fell asleep. Within the dream, he was running out of the Blue Typhoon and to the manhole cover that was already melted. He hopped into it, but noticed that his friends had already been there. After searching everywhere in the base he finally found some metarex and they turned to fight.

"Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog… It's a pleasure to finally be able to speak to you face to face… However, I'm afraid that we'll have to cut our first meeting short. Metarex! Show him the prisoners and then move out!" yelled the metarex.

A gang of smaller metarex swarmed the place and surrounded Sonic, but they made enough room for something to walk through. Metal legs walked in and Sonic couldn't believe his eyes. He was so shocked that he fell to his knees in terror and grief.

"Sonic, I am the metarex who did this and I am the new metarex leader. My name is Blue Sycamore. You shall end up the same way as your metal friends here," said Blue Sycamore pointing at the metal beings in front of Sonic.

"T-Tails… Amy… Why have you done this to my friends?! I'm really ticked off at you now! You do this in reality and I swear that I'll kill you!" Sonic screamed feeling an inner anger rising in his chest and he knew that something was trying to break through to his surface.

The things that were in front of him, were all of his friends, only they were evil and made out of metal. Tails and Amy stood next to each other. Sonic picked out all of his friends, but couldn't find Kaira among them for some reason.

"We're waiting for you Sonic," Blue Sycamore said before the dream faded.

Sonic awoke with a start and yelled angrily. He knew that his friends were already gone and would never approve of what he was going to do. He felt his rage rise up in him like never before and stood up on his bed. His fur turned black and he growled angrily. His hair spiked up, but he was glad it did. There was only one way to save them. He had to go Dark Sonic.

Dark Sonic burst out of the room in a huge rage and tried to get more mad so he could fly. Slowly he lifted off the ground and his jet black fur began to have waves of purple run over them. Dark Sonic could now fly.

Out of the Blue Typhoon he flew, but the longer he took, the madder he got and was soon flying as fast as sound. Finally, he found the manhole cover that was already destroyed and he barreled in. This time, His friends and metarex were all scattered throughout the base. When Sonic caught a glimpse of Blue Sycamore, his mission was laid out for him. Sonic could see the roboticizer, but how could he stop it?

"Blue Sycamore!" Dark Sonic yelled in a deeper voice than normal. He rocketed at the metarex leader and shoved him to the ground.

"Why Sonic, you got my message! I'm so glad!" Blue Sycamore said slyly.

"SONIC?!"cried all of Sonic's friends with surprise.

Dark Sonic saw Blue Sycamore wave his hand and all of Sonic's friends were caught! They struggled, but it was no use. Dark Sonic turned back around and noticed that instead of purple waves over his fur, bright red waves ran faster and faster through him. Madness like never before arose in him. Sonic could feel himself changing form again.

"Sonic, that's actually a good look for you. I've waited for the day to challenge you to a battle for a long time. Now, it's finally here. Let's start shall we? I win, you all get turned into robots. You win, you all go free. What do you say?" asked the leader with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"A duel huh? I accept. Hyper Dark Sonic never loses!" Dark Sonic screeched before being engulfed in red. He exploded into a giant white fireball and looked up at the leader with scarlet red eyes. The flame settled down to reveal a hedgehog with wild spiky hair the color of a deep bright red and the tips of his spikes had white on them. His shoes that were once to help him to remember, became nothing more than ashes and were replaced with jet black shoes with large spikes all over it. Hyper Dark Sonic grinned and huge fangs began to grow in his mouth. Fire still seemed to surround him and was seen clearly in his eyes.

"Impressive form! Although, it's time to put that form to the ultimate test. Metarex, back up," said the leader who sprang at Sonic without hesitation. He got out a giant sword and in the light under the mountain, he looked silver. Blue Sycamore slammed the sword down almost on Sonic, but Sonic dodged.

Hyper Dark Sonic was showing remarkable speed, but his speed was nothing compared to his attacks. Hyper Dark Sonic felt energy rise up within him and he shot it through his arms. Black spears were launched from him and they scraped against Blue Sycamore's armor. The dark chaos control spear. However, it barely left a mark. The metarex leader actually simply pushed them off.

"Not a bad attack. I'm enjoying this quite a lot in fact! Show me another!" Blue Sycamore taunted with interest.

"How about this?!" shouted Hyper Dark Sonic and he began spinning. A ring of fire appeared around him and Hyper Dark Sonic rocketed into the metarex, the darkfire spin attack, but even that did very little. Blue Sycamore forced him to the ground and laughed.

"Impressive! I like this form! It tickles," said the metarex.

A dark sword appeared from nowhere and Sonic grabbed it. Blue Sycamore tightened his grip on his sword, but still looked as if he were confident in his skills. They ran at each other full speed and slashed at each other.

"Not bad… That almost hurt…," said the metarex leader.

"Ow. Wanna fist fight?" asked Hyper Dark Sonic.

"Nah, we sword fight! Pick it up and fight like a good hedgehog should!" yelled Blue Sycamore with a hint of annoyance.

"Fine! I'll redraw my sword! Ready!?" demanded Hyper Dark Sonic.

Blue Sycamore nodded and the two of them charged at each other full speed with swords drawn. They slashed at each other and danced around. Their swords were slammed together and quickly brought back. Sonic jumped and thought about how to defeat Blue Sycamore. Suddenly, he came across something in his memory and tried frantically to remember what it was.

"Rabby knows how to deactivate them and Lily told us that they have a weak spot on their back. Don't worry Sonic! We'll be fine!" Sonic remembered Tails saying earlier that day.

Sonic sprang up and over Blue Sycamore's head and landed behind him. Before he could react, Sonic slammed into his back with a darkfire spin attack. It seemed to work, but Blue Sycamore instantly recovered from the blow.

"Ugh, I see that you remember the weakness of all metarex, but it won't work here though. I'm the leader! If I didn't survive that, then I would have disgraced the metarex. Now, to finish you…," said the large blue metarex walking up to Sonic with his dark sword.

Sonic jumped to his feet and readied his sword yet again. They slashed at each other with all their might, but they seemed to be equal in power. Sonic would jump and use a homing attack, but Blue Sycamore would only have him bounce off of his sword. The metarex leader would lunge towards Sonic, but he would run out of the way.

"We need to end this somehow!" snapped Hyper Dark Sonic.

"Indeed. How shall we do that?" asked Blue Sycamore who was starting to get bored and agitated.

"Look behind you," said Sonic with a smirk.

"What? My roboticizer! It's been taken apart! Let me guess, while we were fighting, your buddy Tails somehow escaped the metarex holding on to him and took it apart and now we must rebuild it?" asked Blue Sycamore.

"That's right! Now let us go!" yelled Tails angrily.

"NO! How could I have let my guard down so easily?!" he demanded with a strong anger rising in his voice.

"Looks like it's all over for your roboticizer because I recall Tails telling me that taking it apart like that makes it not work ever again!" Sonic chirped and turned back into his normal self.

"Those were the only parts that I had for a roboticizer! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT DEFEAT!" screamed the metarex leader in a rage. He grabbed his sword and raced at Sonic before Sonic could dodge. He slashed it down Sonic's arm and Sonic screamed in pain.

"Just to let you know, this sword will not inflict a wound on whomever it touches. It leaves them with a curse! A CURSE OF DEATH!" yelled Blue Sycamore. Then, he and his subjects fled and disappeared.

"Sonic? Sonic! SONIC! Say something!" shouted Tails desperately.

"W-who are y-you? I-I d-don't remember anything…," Sonic said weakly. He fell to the floor in pain.

"Sonic!" cried Amy running over to him and buried her face in his fur.

"H-help me…," Sonic said before passing out again.

"Sonic, wake up! Whatever you do Sonic, just don't die! Amy, Knuckles, help me take him back to the Blue Typhoon! Sonic, hang on!" Tails yelled at Sonic.

With Blue Sycamore…

"Is it done?" asked Blue Sycamore to his wrist communicator.

"Yes, great job and Sonic's gonna die. You are my number one favorite person right now! All is going according to plan. All we have to do now is get that chaos emerald from Shadow and Rouge and Zaira. Why did she ever give him the chaos emerald?!" snapped a female voice.

"I don't know…," Blue Sycamore relied with a hint of amusement in his metallic voice. He sort of laughed and shook his head.

"Ugh. She's so stupid. I want the chaos emeralds and Shadow got his color emerald which is bad. However, the prophecy will not be true because Sonic will die. He was destined for a dark blue color emerald, but looks like now he won't get the chance. HA!" she yelled triumphantly.

"YES! VICTORY AT LAST!" yelled Blue Sycamore.

"VICTORY AT LAST!" echoed the metarex.

"Indeed. No failure now. This time, we'll win!"