I couldn't believe that I was doing this. I had to be crazy to go after Shadow on my own, so I probably was. But however, I felt like I was the only one who could help him. After a few minutes I was hoping to contact him in my mind again.
'Shadow? Are you there? Can you hear me?'
Silence.
'Shadow, please answer.'
Silence.
I sighed heavily. Shadow was in suspended animation there was no waking him.
"C'mon Shelby, think. How did Rouge wake Shadow up?" I asked myself. "She found out the code in Sonic Heroes but it was Chris in danger in Sonic X. I couldn't figure out that dumb code even if I used all my brainpower but I sure don't wanna be in a plane falling from the sky!" I sighed. "Manic makes it look so easy."
I had a few problems before I could even get to Shadow. Like how in the world would I get inside the base, then I'd have to deal with SWATbots, Eggman, Snivley, and who knows what else. After what seemed like hours of trudging through woods, I spotted it: Robotropolis.
I grit my teeth at the sight of it. Somewhere in that city, Shadow was asleep, and I was going to find him.
I was about to jump from my hiding spot under some huge leafs when a HUGE shadow loomed over me. I looked up, almost scared of what I'd see. Sure enough, it was there: one of the many ships of the Egg Fleet! He was going for Knothole!
I looked co the city, and then to the direction of Knothole. I remembered issue 175, Sonic would need all the help he could get but on the other hand, I could become a burden and get caught. What to do? What to do? That's when an idea slowly worked its way into my mind. It was just crazy enough to work! Nut to do it, I had to get to Eggman's base, and NOW!
I ran as fast as I could through the dangerous city, trying my best not to get caught or seen. I'll still never know how I got to Eggman's base so easily but I made it! Now the problem was getting inside. There was a keyboard next the door so it was a written code, not my best event. But I had to come up with something otherwise everything would be lost, even Sonic.
I had to think, knowing Eggman, it was so something obvious, that it would be right in my face the whole time, but what? I struggled to think of something. I started hitting my head out of desperation.
'AUGH! I hate this!' I thought.
Then it dawned on me. Could it be so obvious? Well, only one, way to find out. I started typing in what I had in mind.
I H-A-T-E T-H-A-T H-E-D-E-G-E-H-O-G!
"Password: Accepted." A robotic voice said.
"Egg-belly, I've got your number." I smirked and ran in.
I focused mostly on my memories on getting back to the cells we were in. I'd be able to follow what I remembered from the dream to the elevator and find that capsule. After all, who was to say it was the only that went to that room so intruders couldn't get in. I had to play by Eggman's rules.
"Okay, unless I'm completely lost, the cells should be right around this corner." I told myself.
Almost scared to do so, I peeked around the corner. Sure enough, there was the desk placed in front of Shadow's cell.
"Bingo."
I then thought of the dream. The doctor made a left turn when he dragged me, and I was right next to another hallway. That's where I had to go. I ran down a little ways and made a sharp left turn but stopped. The elevator that the doctor had dragged us into was supposed to be at the end of the hall, but it wasn't there.
I had to think. There had to be some sort of trick here. As I thought, my gaze fell upon a…mirror? It wasn't the mirror that scared me. It was what it was reflecting: an elevator! That was it! The elevator was hidden, of course!
With a heart full of hope, I placed my hand on the wall, feeling an elevator button under it. Bingo. I pressed it and the wall opened, revealing the elevator.
"Yes! Sonic the Hedgehog, eat your heart out." I said.
I quickly got into the elevator and pressed the basement floor button. The elevator sprung to life and I went down. As it went, I had to figure out how to get Shadow out of that prison.
"Let's see, how does Sonic do it?" I whispered.
By the time I had reached the floor I needed, I already had a plan in mind.
The doors opened, revealing the same room from my dream. And right in front of me, just a few yards away, was the capsule, and inside, Shadow. I walked up to it, quickly and quietly.
It was just as I thought: I needed to hack the computer to get it to open.
'Oh, where's that Bat Brain, Rouge, when you need her?' I thought but I still had an ace up my sleeve. I placed my hands over my mouth and said,
"Open this cell!"
I surprised myself as to how well I imitated the doctor's voice.
"Voice approved." The computer droned. "Hand print required."
"OPEN UP THIS CELL BEFORE I TEAR OUT YOUR ROBOTIC BRAIN!" I half yelled.
"Hand print not required. You are Robotnik." The computer droned.
I smirked happily.
"Thank you SatAM series." I said quietly.
BLAST!
"AH!"
A laser had just flown over my head! I looked to see,
"SWATbutts." I groaned.
I cried out when I saw the capsule: a laser had fired the controls! Shadow was trapped! I would have tried to break the glass but I would be no help if I were being blasted with lasers!
"Don't worry, Shadow! I'll come back! I promise!" I cried and ran.
---
"I promise!"
Shadow stayed motionless. He stayed perfectly still, no signs of life anywhere. But then one thing crossed his mind.
'Thank you.'
---
I kicked the door to the stairwell open! I had to get away from those SWATbots.
'Feet, don't fail me now!' I thought.
As I raced up the stairs, lasers were being shot straight up the center of the stairwell. Not very smart robots, are they?
That's what I thought before they started using their lasers to cut through the stairs! I always jinxed myself by doing this.
'Sonic! Help me!' I cried in my mind. 'Oh, I should have waited for him. I always do this!'
That was when I realized something: Sonic may not be here but a part of him is! I just hoped I could do it without him.
I put my head up and ran. I was too scared to really pay attention as to how fast I was going at the time but if I had, I wouldn't have been as scared. I didn't stop running until I had made a sharp turn and into the fifty or so floor.
I slammed the door behind me and ran into a nearby room. I waited a little to catch my breath.
"Do you have what I requested, Snivley?"
I nearly jumped out of my fur at that. I peeked father into the room. There were several boxes, most of them filled with stuff I didn't even recognize.
"This is the last of it, sir." Snively said, placing a box down.
"We must know more about that girl. I'm going to have her talk, even if it kills me!" Eggman roared.
"Then you better start digging a grave." I growled.
"Sir, the Egg Fleet has arrived in Knothole, shall we begin?" Snivley asked.
"Of course. This shall be wonderful." Eggman said with a sickening grin.
I watched them leave before coming out of my hiding place. There were several boxes all over the room. Mostly they were filled with files of all sorts. I took one in my hand and opened it. It was about Benjamin Rush! My ancestor! I opened another. It was about Warn Cunningham, my grandfather from my mother's side of the family! Another was of Paul Workman, my grandfather from my dad's side of the family!
"Man, this guy is one crazed up fruit loop. What does he want with all this junk for anyways?" I wondered aloud.
That was when something sticking out of a box caught my eye. Something…blue…and tie died! It was my favorite cap! What did that overgrown egg want with my cap? Either way, he wasn't getting his paws on it. I grabbed it and placed it in my backpack. That was when I saw what was under it: my copy of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights! I was about to grab it when a line ran through my head.
"If our world ceases to exist, then not only will those stories be silenced forever, but the Erazor Djinn will then be unleashed into your world."
Upon hearing that line in my mind, I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Sonic and the Secret Rings." I whispered.
I quickly shook the feeling off and opened the book. I flipped through each page as quickly as I possibly could, scared of what I'd see. In the end, everything was just as it was, not a single page touched.
'As Wave once said: You can never be too careful.' I thought and slipped the book into my backpack, if something happened, I'd be the first to know. However, that became the last thing on my mind in a hurry, because I heard the doctor's voice, and he was talking to himself…or so I thought.
"I TOLD Snivley to leave you for me!"
Putting my worries to the back of my mind, I got closer. I could see the doctor wearing some sort of strange green gloves, or that's what they looked like. However I knew better. It was the controls for the super battle suit he used to destroy Knothole in issue 175!
I knew very well that Sonic was going to have a hard time tearing that thing apart, the most damage he had done to it in the comic was denting the shield only once! And he only got that result by charging headfirst to the East Coast and then making a hairpin turn and then charging faster then he had ever gone before and charged the robot!
As I remembered this, I began to wonder if Sonic could only do that much damage then I began to wonder what could I possibly do? No! I mustn't think like that! It'll only make it worse! I could help, and I would!
I shook those thoughts from my mind I had to stay focused! I had been zoned out for long enough! On the screen was Sonic in one of the robot's hands! Had I been that ignorant? Didn't matter, I had to stop Eggman from hurting Sonic even more! But before I could even move, Eggman spoke up.
"Oh, and that girl, Shelby, I hacked into the computer system on her planet. Turns out she knew about this." I heard him say. "She knew from the start. But she didn't warn you, did she? You thought she was your friend, she didn't tell you about this. She ran away when she figured out about it. She fled, and left you to take on the attack. She doesn't care about you."
That did it. I snapped. You can make fun of me, you can attack me, you can say unkind things about me, and you can say I can't sing but when you say I don't care about Sonic, that's where I draw the line! I got up from my hiding place, ran from my hiding place, and pushed Eggman but I still held on.
---
Sonic looked at the screen in wonder. Was that Shelby who just saved him? From Eggman of all people!
"What's going on?" He asked quietly.
---
We both tumbled a little ways before I was right on top of Eggman's chest, holding him by the collar of his jacket.
"W-W-W-What are you doing here?" Eggman demanded.
"I'm here to stop you from hurting Sonic, Ro'butt'nik." I growled.
"Ha! You couldn't hurt a fly!" Eggman yelled.
"Maybe not, but I can crack an egg like you!" I growled and scratched at his face.
It quickly tuned into a fight for the controls to the super suit. At once point, I finally managed to take them off of his fat hands, and push him back into a wall.
"Sit down!" I snapped.
"And if I don't?" Eggman yelled.
"You don't want to know." I said in a cold voice.
I took the glove like controls and placed them over my own hands. I walked onto the control pad, extremely serious. I just hoped Sonic was alright.
"Sonic? Can you hear me?" I asked.
"S…Shelby?" His voice came from the speakers.
"Oh, thank goodness you're still alive." I said.
"Shelby, I thought you ran away because of this." Sonic said.
"I would never do that!" I snapped. "Sonic you have to believe me! If I had known about this I would have told you from the start!"
"You…you would have?"
"Of course!" By this time, I could feel tears building up. "Sonic, if there's anything I've learned from following you for seven years is this: Hold onto what you believe in. Hold onto it with both arms! Never let go! Even if you do, it's okay, keep going for it! As long as you have something to fight for, anything at all, keep fighting for it. Even if you lose everything, keep fighting! Even if you only have one thing in the entire universe that's left for fighting for, keep fighting! Never give up the fight! Keep pressing forward! Put your energy into today, not yesterday. Put only a few things behind you, but remember all the good things! As long as you keep moving forward, everything will be fine. The pain of losing others will never go away, but once the victory has come celebrate with those alive and remember the dead, hoping that they can see it. Live…to be happy."
I saw sure I had tears showing by now, I was too deep in what I was saying to really notice. When I was done, I could barely believe what I had heard my voice say. Had I really said that? Me? The quiet little nobody who was never really noticed back home? I didn't know I could speak like that. I tried to speak but I couldn't get the words out.
I looked at Sonic. Had he heard what I said, or did I imagine it?
"Shelby, those words will never leave my mind."
I wasn't imagining it!
"Sonic, nobody is dead, not yet anyways." I said. "They're all here, at Eggman's base, in the Egg Grapes! If you don't hurry, they'll be turned into feul!"
"What? How?"
"Egg Grapes turn life force into an energy Eggman plans on using to filter out the Zone of Silence! If there's anyone left, hurry and get to Robotropolis! If you don't everyone is going to be turned into ashes!"
"I'll be there as soon as I can!"
"I'll try and hold Eggman off to buy you some time, hurry!"
"You fool!"
I turned quickly to see Eggman, who pushed me from the control pad. He then grabbed the controls from my arms and pushed me into a wall nearby.
"Don't move it you don't want to be blasted!" Eggman threatened, holding up the same gun from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
I didn't dare move a muscle I didn't want to get my head blasted off! Eggman turned to Sonic and growled cruel things to him but I was too focused on the gun to really be paying any attention. After a minute, Eggman made a gesture with his arm, which looked like he was throwing something downwards. I knew he was throwing Sonic and quite frankly, that made my blood boil.
"Now for you." Eggman said, turning back to me. "You're going to tell me how this all turns out or else!"
"Or else what, Egg-head?" I shot back.
"Or else you'll have a bullet in you somewhere." Eggman growled, almost calmly.
"I'd never tell you ever if my life was on the line." I growled.
"Are you sure?" Eggman asked, pushing the gun closer.
I grit my teeth, oh how I wanted to bite his hand at that moment.
"Now are you going to talk?" Eggman asked, putting to gun to my cheek.
"Never." I growled.
"You're loss." Eggman said.
I could see him ready to pull the trigger and I braced myself. Then one thing came to my mind: Shout Defense Curl.
My eyes snapped wide open! Where had that come from? Didn't matter, because I shouted it at once.
"Defense Curl!"
There was a gunshot! My eyes went wide. I had heard a shot, but felt no pain. What had happened?