Author note: YAYZ! LAST CHAPTER!
Chapter 7:
Devil suddenly stiffened, he checked his watch, six red dots were headed for him, robots, he quickly became invisible, they were scanning, he calmed himself and slowed his breathing, his heart beat slowly, the robot's heat scan didn't show him, his technique had worked, he quickly headed back to the others as more robots were arriving behind the first six, Vector almost punched him, Devil caught his hand and hissed, "It's me you idiot. Robots are headed this way, I'm going to call Harley and Espio, while you fight the robots we'll try to free your friends." Vector nodded and passed the message, Rose hurried forward, "Be careful Daddy." "I will, I won't leave you permanently if I can help it." She swallowed her tears and nodded. Her father became invisible and disappeared.
"So the dungeon, I think we'll call it that, is located at the end of only a few more tunnels." Devil nodded and Harley turned off his watch. Espio kept one hand near his shuriken, also known as ninja stars.
The cell doors looked thick and there were no key holes. "How are we gonna open them?" "Allow me." Said a metallic voice, they whipped around, a red and gold version of Metal Sonic before he transformed into Metal Overlord was flying towards them, they raised their fists and shuriken, the robot held up a hand, "I am a friend, I was sent by Shade's twin, she is artificial, Eggman created her, but she does not serve him, and neither do I, you may call me Jetx." They blinked, but he pushed past them and pressed a hand into an unremarkable dent in the wall. A keypad came out, Jetx flexed his metal fingers, "Cracking time." Cords came out of hidden slots near his shoulder blades and attached themselves to the keyboard. "What are you doing?" Asked Devil, mildly interested, "I am hacking their system and getting the password."
Mighty shushed everyone, "What is your problem now?" "I heard something!" The door, unfortunately, was too thick for them to hear someone coming from outside, so it was futile. Then the door opened. Sonic yelped, "METAL?!" The robot, red and gold, glared at him, "Shut the hell up hedgehog, I am helping your friends rescue you by orders of Slade." "Slade?" "Slade is a copy of Shade, an artificial life form. I am only able to choose what I do and who I serve because she has discovered how to use chaos energy to give life, and also, an echidna she has rescued recently holds the life emerald, so it is not too hard, but hold your silence, and we shall be able to save the young bee yet." Amy looked at Jetx, confused, but Sonic shrugged, "Whatever you say." "And so you do NOT call me Metal Sonic, I will tell you my name is Jetx, address me as such." Then he spun on his metal heel and drifted out the door, the liberated prisoners following, with invisible chameleons bringing up the rear.
"THIS IS NOT MY IDEA OF A GOOD TIME." Horace shouted to Amikus, who was shooting his bow with amazing accuracy into the throng of robots. Then a voice came over the loud speakers, "Robots, withdraw, guests, come to the fun time room, it has a yellow door, I have a surprise for you." Vector's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "It's a trap." Said Mivdi. "I'M NOT A DIMWIT!" Yelled Vector, Mivdi calmly looked at him and replied, "I didn't say you were." The door was almost a sickening shade of yellow it was so bright, they were going to smash it down but it clicked and opened, a robot pulling the handle. It bowed and ushered them in. They exchanged glances and went in. "A good, if you will look to the opposite wall, you'll see my surprise, I hope you like it." A malicious giggle came from the dark shadows surrounding the controls, "CHARMY!!" Charmy was bound to the wall, unconscious, his wings had scissors poised above them, "As you can see, if you do something I don't like or I don't tell you to do his wings are sliced in half and he gets fun from my latest toy." Suddenly a metallic whistle went through the air as Jetx sliced through Charmy's bonds and assaulted the robots. "NO! DESTROY HIM, DESTROY HIM!" Howled Darlaska. Espio caught Charmy who was moaning, "Vector, some of his bones are broken." "I just hope we can fix them." Espio handed Charmy to Vector and was going to go to the battle when Jetx roared at him, "STAY WITH YOUR TEAM MATES, THEY WILL NEED YOU, HELP AHRI GET DARLASKA!!" Darlaska, a shadowy figure, was moving towards the exit, Ahri flew at him, jumped off his board, rolled, grabbed Darlaska from behind, and slammed him against a wall, then held a knife to his throat. "STOP FIGHTING OR I KILL HIM!" He yelled to the robots, who froze, Darlaska was breathing raggedly, the hood had fallen away to show a grotesque face, "Well brother, how long has it been since we played this little game? Are you going to kill me this time?" "He's your brother?" Asked Jan-la, Ahri was looking at Darlaska with pained sorrow, "Yes, he chose the dark, sometimes I thought I could save him, make him come to our side, he disowned me, then tried to murder me." Ahri's voice shook. "Kill me now, you'll never find the prisoners." "Actually they already did." Shadow and Sonic stood side by side, the others behind them, Darlaska's face contorted with fury. "How did you escape?" "That doesn't matter, brother, Darl, come to the light, please." Ahri had a note of pleading in his voice. Darlaska looked at Ahri, everyone was surprised to see tears in his eyes, "I can't, you were always better than me, the dark offered a way to become greater than you could ever be, the girls loved you and hated me, and now it has consumed me, there is no way I can continue, you have one, I have lost, I'll admit I was a fool, good bye, I hope we meet again." Then he wrenched himself out of Ahri's grip, grabbed the knife, and plunged it into his heart, his expression became peaceful and he fell towards the floor. Ahri caught him, "Could I have a minute alone?" He asked, his voice was heavy with tears. Everyone quietly left, the robots had been programmed to go to the person closest to their master when their master died, that was Ahri. As soon as they closed the door sobbing broke out. They could hear it, they bowed their heads. Shadow didn't, he looked at the door, a slight frown on his face. Amy looked up, "Is something bothering you Shadow?" He looked at her, then explained.
"I think I actually understand how Darlaska felt, considering his past, and mine, Maria died, I wanted revenge, his brother was better, he wanted revenge, to be better. And we both killed to try to get to our goal, we didn't care, we started to like it, but he killed himself, and I'm still here, but I did try to kill myself, it didn't work." Everyone was slightly shocked that Shadow could be so modest. Then, strangely, Amy stood up, and hugged Shadow, not the bone crushing hug she would give Sonic, but a gentle one, it conveyed her sympathy, and Shadow felt something he hadn't felt in a long long time, he felt like he could cry. So that no one would notice, he turned his head the other way.
Slade looked at the scene, she felt sorry for Ahri, so, with Lario behind her (she had explained everything to him) she went up behind Ahri who was holding his brother, "Hey." She said softly, he looked up, "Darlaska is happy you know." "Oh, how?" "Lario's life emerald helped me learn to control my powers so I used one to go and talk to Darlaska, he waited on the border, the border between life and death, I'm going to let him use my body before he goes on, he wants to say something to you." Her eyes closed and her voice changed, Ahri looked at her like a drowning sailor being offered a life boat by an angel. "Hey Ahri, I'm sorry about everything, I...I just...I just..." "It's okay." Said Ahri. "No, it isn't, no brother should try to murder his sibling, it's just wrong. I want to let you know that, I took something Mom wanted you to have so you would never get it, it's in my inside cloak pocket. I'm sorry..." Ahri could physically feel Darlaska's soul leave the hedgehog and hug him before going. Ahri opened the pocket as the hedgehog came out of her trance. Inside were his mother and father's rings, if he had them, he was a chameleon lord in the ninja community. He looked down at his brother's peaceful face, "Thank you Darlaska." He kissed him, and in the energy swirl of all non physical beings that came after death, Darlaska felt it, and cried.
"Who's that?" Asked Terra as Ahri came out with the hedgehog and echidna. Jetx stepped forward, "Master!" He fell to one of his knees, "Jetx how many times have I told you not to do that?" "Sorry Master, it's in my programing." But Ahri was frowning slightly, "Yes I don't know your name, I only know your companion's." Lario seemed to shrink as everyone looked at him, he stepped closer to Slade. "My name is Slade, this is Lario. And his brother, the one holding the death emerald, is missing." Instantly, there was an uproar.
Author note: I hope you enjoyed that, the next story has Lario as one of the main characters, and Shade comes in too, as well as a few other members of Company Chaos, and the guys who united in this story split up, only meeting again near the end. Until then, sayonara.