FINALLY! Here's where things actually get interesting! You're actually allowed to read this chapter:D

Though it might not be very funny… I'll probably kill a few characters and splash some blood around but eventually we'll get back to normal.

Chapter 41- The Future Looks Bleak

Sonic ran after Tails along a narrow forest trail, "Where are we going?" Sonic asked.

"Back to our headquarters." Tails said, "Everyone's going to be so happy to see you!"

"Who's everyone?"

"You'll see!" Tails said excitedly.

Tails paused as they reached a small pond. He placed his hand on a nearby tree trunk and paused for a moment.

"What are you-?"

Before Sonic could finish a number pad came out of the tree. Tails pressed in a few numbers and it pulled back into the compartment in the tree.

The pond water suddenly began to drain away. Sonic stared as the water disappeared down a drain in the muddy bottom. Tails jumped over the side of the pond and disappeared from sight.

Sonic stared for a moment not sure of what to when Tails' head poked over the edge, "Hurry! It'll refill in thirty seconds!" he called.

Sonic followed Tails into the drained pond. Tails ran to the drain in the center and pulled up the metal grate and jumped in. Sonic quickly followed him.

Sonic felt his heart racing as he freefell towards nothing but then the chute tilted and became a slide. He slid down for another few minutes or so before it finally dropped him on a hard metal floor. He blinked twice getting used to the light and then looked up and saw Tails smiling down at him, "We've been working on another way to get in that isn't so nauseating but for now it's all we've got." he said with a weak smile.

Sonic stood up and glanced around. The room he was standing in was made entirely out of a dull metal. It was empty but on the other side was a door with another numberpad on the wall next to it.

Tails approached it and pressed more numbers and the door slid open. Sonic followed Tails into the next room. Sonic stared for a moment but then finally asked, "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the Global Headquarters of the Pink Army." Tails said.

"Pink?"

"Yeah… well since Liz hates that color it seemed appropriate." Tails mumbled, "Plus Amy founded it so…"

Sonic ignored Tails and stared at the room they were in. The walls and floor were metal like before but the ceiling was too high to even see it.

"Let's keep moving." Tails said. He started walking towards the other end of the empty room where two soldiers were standing guard at the large metal doors there.

Both had guns in their hands and were staring at Sonic in awe. Sonic just smiled weakly as Tails led him past them and through the door.

Sonic looked out and saw what seemed to be a huge underground city! "How many people do you have in here?" Sonic asked.

"A couple hundred thousand." Tails replied, "We have other bases in other parts of the world though."

Tails continued towards the city, "We're heading for the military command center in the middle of the city." he explained, "We should hurry before you attract a crowd."

"Why would I attract a-"

"OMG! IT'S SONIC!" Sonic looked ahead and saw a small brown fox pointing and staring at him with wide eyes.

"Hurry! Let's go!" Tails called.

"Good idea." Sonic grabbed Tails' wrist and took off down the road past houses and shops and finally stopped in front of a large gate. "Is this the place?"

"Yeah. Hold on." Tails stepped forward and began pressing on another number pad next to the gates.

"Very secure here aren't we?" Sonic asked.

"You can never be too careful." Tails mumbled.

The gates swung open slowly and came to a grinding halt. Tails led Sonic inside and the large metal gate slammed behind them.

In front of them was a very large square-like white building. Tails approached it and went in through the front doors.

As Sonic entered he heard a slur of voices become silent. A large white entrance hall with people scurrying everywhere greeted him but the movement had stopped and every pair of eyes was looking right into his.

He felt an uneasyness creep into him as he looked around the hall. Then he caught sight of a familiar face. "Amy?" he asked.

The pink hedgehog clad in a blue soldier uniform was standing in an open doorway not ten feet from him. She dropped the papers in her hands and approached him, still wide-eyed, "S-sonic?" she asked.

He nodded and smiled.

Amy gasped and her eyes filled with tears, "Oh I can't believe it's really you!" she cried as she threw her arms around him, "It's been so long since I last saw you!"

"Come on you two, we should go somewhere more private." Tails said glancing at all the people around.

Tails led them past the crowd and up a sleek marble stairway and through a sliding metal door into what appeared to be a conference room. An echidna and a bat in the same uniform as Amy were sitting and shuffling through papers and blueprints and discussing something.

"Knuckles, Rouge. Look who I found." Tails said with a smile.

The pair looked up and their mouths fell open together, "Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

"No, that's impossible!" Rouge said standing up.

"Why is everyone so surprised to see me?" Sonic asked, "If this is the future then where am I?" As he said this he came to realize: he wasn't in this future.

"Maybe we should explain…" Tails said with a weak smile, "Sit down." He added gesturing to one of the chairs.

"No. Stay standing."

Sonic turned around and saw a black hedgehog standing in the doorway glaring at him fiercely.

"Calm down Shadow!" Amy said stepping in front of Sonic, "This time it's real, I can feel it!"

Shadow glanced at Amy but then turned his gaze right back to Sonic. As Sonic stared into Shadow's face he could see he had aged much more than the others. His black fur had started to loose its dark sheen and become dull. Unlike the others his uniform was black and his jacket wasn't buttoned up.

"So tell me, Sonic, how did you manage to get to this time period?" he asked.

"Tails built a time machine and it malfunctioned." Sonic replied.

"Really? How fascinating." Shadow said with a mock-amused tone, "And do you remember why it malfunctioned?"

Sonic glared at Shadow; he understood now. Shadow didn't believe he was the real Sonic. "Liz was playing around with the controls." Sonic replied, the friendly tone in his voice gone.

"Well," Shadow said stepping into the room, "Liz programmed you very well."

"What?" Sonic demanded, "I'm not a robot!"

"Really? Then prove it." Shadow said with a delighted gleam in his eye, "Race me!"

"Shadow, stop it!" Amy said angrily.

"We all know that Liz's technology isn't able to produce a robot that can go as fast as me. If he can keep up then I'll believe him." Shadow said, never taking his eyes off Sonic's.

Sonic stepped forward angrily, "Sure, I'll race you. And I'll beat you!" he shouted.

"You sound very confident." Shadow said with a smile, "Let's see if you can live up to it."

Then without warning Shadow took off, out the room and down the stairs and into the city. Sonic paused for a moment in surprise but then bolted after him.

Shadow ran straight through the city and through the metal double doors and began pressing numbers into the number pad on the other side of the room. The sound of rushing water met his ears. When it stopped, the door opened and Shadow looked back to see if Sonic was following. He wasn't.

He smiled to himself and ran into the room and ignored the lift waiting for him and ran straight up the chute Sonic had come down earlier.

He reached the top and jumped out of the muddy pond and onto the grass. As he looked back the pond began to refill slowly. A triumphant smile crossed his face. He had been able to see through Liz's ploy.

He turned towards the fake tree and was about to drain the pond again but suddenly Sonic jumped from the shallow water and landed on the opposite bank. He looked around and finally spotted Shadow on the other side staring at him with wide eyes. Then his surprise faded and became anger, he turned and sprinted into the trees.

Sonic raced after him carefully avoiding the tree branches hanging low waiting to catch him by surprise.

It took him a moment but he finally caught up to Shadow. As the two sped down the forest trail Sonic began to pull ahead. Shadow pushed himself to go faster but a sweat broke out on his forehead and his cheeks began to burn red.

Sonic didn't notice and kept running. After awhile he realized he couldn't hear Shadow behind him anymore. "What's the matter Shadow? Am I too fast for you?" he shouted back. But he stopped when he saw Shadow was nowhere in sight. "Shadow?" he called.

He turned and headed back the way he'd come. He came upon Shadow on his knees coughing violently into his hands. He stared for a moment not knowing what to think but just then Shadow looked up and smiled weakly, "Forgive me, my age has robbed me of most of my speed." he said.

Sonic held out his hand and helped Shadow to his feet, "I'm sorry I doubted you." Shadow said when he was standing.

"It's alright." Sonic said.

"It's just that Liz has been working on finding where our base is hidden and she remembers the time machine incident too." Shadow said, "She knows that our army has been waiting to find you."

"Why have you been waiting for me?" Sonic asked, "I can't do anything to stop Liz."

"That's what I've been trying to tell everyone." Shadow said with a forced laugh, "I should explain; come on, I want to show you something."

Shadow continued down the path and Sonic came up next to him, "So how exactly did Liz become some sort of ruler?" he asked.

"That's what we're all wondering." Shadow replied, "World leaders were so baffled by how she did it that they blamed the only thing that seemed logical: you."

"Why did they blame me?"

"Liz's reign began eight years ago... you've been dead for ten." Shadow replied solemnly.

Sonic nodded, having expected to hear something along those lines, "How did I die?" he asked.

Shadow bit his lip, "Maybe it's best if you don't know." he mumbled.

"Was it Liz?"

"Surprisingly, no." Shadow said, "But either way, everyone was so confused that they just blamed Liz's take over on your death. Eventually... people actually started to believe it."

"But Tails and Amy and those guys, they lived in that house with Liz! They should know there's no way I can do anything against her!" Sonic insisted.

"That's the thing: they don't remember ever living with Liz." Shadow said.

"How could they possibly forget something so awful?"

"Liz wiped their memories." Shadow said somberly, "I just barely escaped her. If I hadn't then nobody would know her weaknesses and we'd all be her slaves."

"But Tails remembered the time machine-"

"Tails doesn't remember anything. I've tried telling them about some things to jog their memory but it's useless. I've told Tails about the time machine incident so many times that he knows every detail of it but he doesn't actually remember it." Shadow explained.

Sonic looked ahead at the forest trail, "So what exactly has she been doing as a dictator?"

"Well for one thing she unleashed a campaign of genocide against hula dancers and curlers." Shadow said with a raised eyebrow, "Never did figure out why... and she somehow managed to enslave the entire population of mosquitoes and train them as spies. We had to move our base twice and make our surroundings air tight."

Sonic didn't know what to say to that so he just stared ahead as Shadow continued, "Well, that's besides the point. Unfortunately I wasn't with Tails when he came to find you in this time so I have no idea what happens. I never thought it was important."

"Just out of curiosity, where were you sent?" Sonic asked.

Shadow felt his cheeks flush red, "Um... when you bring me back it's very likely I'll be incapacitated... I only remember up until those hippies laced my drink but-"

"Hippies? You were sent to the sixties?" Sonic asked with a smile.

Shadow couldn't contain a smile either, "I know. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Hannah doesn't take advantage of you while you're out." Sonic said with a wink.

Shadow's smile blew out immediately and he looked away. Sonic saw what looked like pain shining in his red eyes. He looked away immediately wondering what could have happened to Hannah, but he thought he shouldn't ask.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Sonic asked.

"I want to show you the field from yesterday's battle." Shadow said. Sonic looked ahead and saw they were coming to the edge of the forest. As they left the trees they came upon the wreckage that was the battlefield Sonic had woken up in.

Shadow headed right through the smoldering field and glanced around. Sonic followed quickly. "Yesterday a few soldiers were being reassigned to another headquarters so they were walking there; seeing as we can't use aircraft because it's too noticeable; but somehow Liz got wind of their party and sent soldiers to ambush them.

"We got a message from our troops that they were under attack so we sent reinforcements to help. Liz found out somehow and she sent more soldiers before we even got there. We didn't stand a chance." Shadow looked around the field morosely and turned back to Sonic.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you; but we need your help to win this war." he said.

Sonic looked out across the field, "I don't see what I could do that you haven't done already..." he mumbled.

"But you just being here can really lift everyone's spirit. They all believe that you can save us and just giving them that hope can do a lot more than you think." Shadow said with a slight smile.

Sonic didn't know how to respond, he just nodded, still not believing that he could really help his friends in any way.

"We should head back." Shadow said with one last glance around the ravaged field. Then he headed past Shadow into the trees.

Sonic turned to follow but something caught his eye off in the distance. He looked closely to see what it was and then he realized-

"Shadow! There's someone out there!" he called.

Without waiting for Shadow to come back he raced over to the figure struggling to stand. He grabbed their arm to stop them from falling.

She looked up at Sonic and her eyes became wide. Sonic recognized her instantly:

"Hannah?"