"Would you two stop acting like children?"
Neither Tails nor Eggman even glanced at Rouge, nor even acknowledged her question, far too intent on continuing to glare at one another as their scuffed mechas continued to walk side by side down the hallway. Hands twitched occasionally on their respective controls, both geniuses just waiting in paranoia for the other to make a move.
For the kitsune, he still wasn't entirely sure if he believed the Doctor's tale, but he felt perfectly justified in being cautious. Eggman himself had even admitted once that he wasn't entirely rational when angry, and Tails had nearly paid dearly for letting his guard down against his more often enemy than ally. It was ironic really, he'd come aboard being most paranoid about Shadow, yet the black hedgehog had actually been the most helpful next to Cosmo.
The party, and the stare-off, came to an unexpected halt as they rounded another corner, a wall of debris blocking the path. They were close now, very close to the central control room for the entire station. But fate, for some reason, seemed more intent than ever to keep them from their destination; this was the third time they'd run into a collapsed passage in the last twenty minutes.
"Ugh," said Eggman, "Again?" he grumbled as he brought up a map of their current area on one of his monitors. After a few seconds a stabbing buttons with his right hand, he pointed with his left toward a doorway back down the hall. "Alright, next best detour it that way."
Clanking down another walkway, the Egg Walker led the others into a smaller facility with varying glass vaults on either side, not unlike those they'd seen in the labs earlier on. Unlike the previous ones, however, these were empty save for dust, and appeared to have been out of use for a longer period.
As the Cyclone trudged along, Tails was struck with nostalgia again as he squinted at the containers. "These… look like compression chambers. Like the ones we found back in the Metarax base." he said, referring to himself and Cosmo. "But those were used to mass produce Fake Emeralds. How many did he actually make?"
"Do you iever/i stop asking rhetorical questions?" queried Eggman, earning him a return to their leering contest. It was broken up again just as quickly when Shadow beckoned them over to a console near the end of the chamber, a pod adjacent to it actually being occupied.
Tossing aside their grudges, the two mechas jogged over relatively quick, the black hedgehog holding the Blue Chaos Emerald up as his eyes darted between it to the container. Inside the latter appeared to be an exact twin at first glance, a Chaos Emerald impossibly of the same color, but continued observation revealed this not to be so. There was something… Off, about the jewel behind the glass, an almost sickening aura emanating from it. The cut seemed cruder, sharper, the normally bright lines refracting the light produced from within the gemstone dark and shadowy. Even the illumination generated from within it seemed tainted, suffused with a shade of pus-coloured blond.
"He actually did it," said Tails, gazing at the Artificial Emerald. It seemed that the late Gerald Robotnik could now claim membership to the club so far only he and the Metarex had been members of; those who'd actually produced (with varying degrees of success) an actual copy of a Chaos Emerald.
The sound of banging in the vents suddenly put everyone on edge, eyes drawn to the ceiling and those with weapons training them. Several seconds passed with nothing happening, and just as they were about to relax again a ceiling plate blew off, an azure streak flashing past and crashing into the glass container they'd been examining. As glass shards flew everywhere, Tails shielding his eyes with a hand, he got the briefest of glimpses at the thing. He saw a familiar blue ooze, green eyes on an iron head, and metal bones with dark gems embedded upon them.
Just as quickly, the stream of semi-solid material flew out, trailed by gunfire from both mechas. It never even gave pause to attacks, shooting back up to its point of entry and vanishing within the hole in the ceiling. As faint wisps of smoke curled from weapons, silence again returned.
"That was Artificial Chaos," said Shadow simply, after a few moments of hush.
"Seizing a Fake Emerald." continued Tails.
Eggman snorted but said nothing. The girls did likewise, skipping the grunting part.
Finally getting it through his head that the clone of the God of Destruction was not returning, Tails turned the Cyclone back to the smashed tube, reaching over the side and activating the console beside it. The CPU took about half of a minute to reboot, a surprise given its age, but quite a welcome one. Typing out a system query, the console hummed as it returned an index of documents.
A new set of available files in a familiar directory caught the kitsune's eye, and he beckoned the others over. Artificial Chaos was quickly forgotten as they found themselves looking at the last cache of logs from the journal of Gerald Robotnik. With one more push of a button, they began to play.
[WARNING. SEV&RE DATA CORRU^ION. Pl%eaSe contac4 adminisss0)tration services for assist7a$nce]
[DATA CORRU%PTED. Skipping to first avail^&ble section.^..]
&$)0tJso_ Iwj Ussing- Prject.., Shdw; kall- Yeh* Blk *rms #cnnts ///
[DA$TA CORRUPTED. Sk6pping to next available sec(*tion...]
rrt-^ disas-ter alwayu*r ining poblems. Prject Gateway has prov//ven successful though, e&en with the cost I had to pay to ke*p things moving. I can't afford to fail now, too much is at take, and time is running desperately sh%ort. The Doctors say Maria has little over 2a year( left wit= her current condition. If I must give up the Gizoid to finish Project Shadow, then so/so/so1? be it. I've already done all I can for it anyway.
Back on topic- Yes, usin7 Artificial Emeralds to power Project Gateway is not enough to fulfill its original scope and purpose, but it was enough to get into our neigh55oring world. I have seen with my own eyes our sister world, and what magnificence lies upon it. And the fifth great civilization still thrives upon it! But I am getting ahR^ead of myself once /again.
After creating a stable portal, I ventured in, alone, into what could have ery well been oblivion. I arrived inst#ead upon a green meadow, lush grasslands all around&d me. Exploring, It was not long before I came across natives. Strangely, I was far more surprised at their appearance than they were mine. I supposeing?ing? I can understand it in hindsight, theirs is such a species of versatility.
Mobians, they called ttemselves, after the sister world they live upon: Mobius. The closest thing I can relate them to is a species of anthropomorphic animals, almost all bre3ds of which you could find upon Earth. Hovv genetics played into the creation of this great civilization is something I cannot even begib to guess at.
Upon asking for aid, I was given directions# to one of their cities, also more like our own thn alien in !design. Unlike us, thouh, they are much mo5re highly fond of nature, with trees and grass mingling with structures of stone and metal. I felt almost as if I were in Venice, for the nu}{mbr of waterways and rivers outnumbered the roads and paths thrice over. Apparently, though, the true habitat of mobians was the countryside. |Aside fom commerce and trade, I discovered most of "them lived in the forests, plains, and montains, as I hung-ily spent hours in a library learning all that I could o$f this world.
And then came my greatest disco^very of all: Perfection.
I had just finished ano*ther book when there was an explosion outside, a shelf fallig over and nearly at#op me. Rushing fro the building, I fouwnd chaos outside, the animaloids (is that even a word? Eh, I suppose it will be8 once I show the rest of the sc!i!entific community my findings) in a pani^c. From the forest ahead, the carapace of a colossal centipede shone wth turquoise chitin~ overlaid with gold streaks. I found myslf reminded of the Biolizard for a moment, yet was drawn quickly back to re0ality upon realizing I w`as upon the intended path of its destructive ram\page.
I turned to flee wit the rest of the mobians, but stopped just as sudde%nly when a gold streak +flew overhe:ad. Enraptured, it struck the creatures right in the mandibles, not even slwing as it broke1 off and started zigzagging around it like a caffeinated fly. I lost traFk of time watching this strange event, but I would wager after maybe a m3inute or less the enormous insect grw frustrated and was driven back into the forest b6y the shimmering blur.
The mobians clapped hands and paws $happily, the golden figure (for now I could definitely makde out a form within the light) desceding down like some sort of archangel. Curious as to my savior agnd the protector of the city, I sprinted as fast as my old body would allw toward the area the being was landing at. Arriving at a pond that ran around a buil%ding, my old eyes found there a mobian hedgehog covered in a golden aura, his fdur and quills all alight with swirling energy.
There was a gu^st, a short wind that came gently from nowhere, and I beheld yet more wonrders as seven magnificent jewels spun out around him; Green, Blue, Cyan, Red, Purple, Yellow, Gray. Each pulsed in harmkony with brilliant, perfect light, nd I knew, without even a margin of doubt in my mind, that I was in the presence of the fabled Chaos Emeralds. There was another crac(kle of energy, and the golden light of the hdgehog flowed into the jewels. The gemstones flared as the took in the power, and with a final flash shot out in all directions upon the horizon.
After watching with awe as the rainboiw streaks passed oer the horizons, I looked backd to their point of origin. Standing now where the glowing hedgehog was the same being, but… orinary. A simple mobian hedgehog with ice-blue fur and quills, a white patch shsaped like an inverted triangle on his chest. He sighed,1mumbling something about being too old for saving the city before regarding me with the kind smie I'd expect from a fello*w old man, but not one hso young. I returned it, or at least I think I did, I was still in so much shock I wouldn't be surprised if my facial muscles no lonkger worked.
I introduced myself, and he as well; Sky the Hedgehog, he called himself. He was curious to my lack of a species surname, and I decided honesty was the best course, telling him ofs my journey to their world. He took it surprisingly well, but I suppose mobians must have led more chaotic and d9angerous lifestyles than humans if my brief encounter with them was any indication. My curisity got the better of me, and I found myself launching a perhaps unreasoable sum of quest?ions that Sky barely had enough time to answer between breaths. Apparently I had just witnessed what the hedgehog called his super form, an empowered! state of being fueled s3by the positive energy of the seven Chaos Emeraldse, which granted an enormous boost to physical abilities and unlocked hidrden abilities within the user. Apparenftly, the ability to take on a Super form was restricted, however, as only he, his mother, and grandfather on her side had been able to asZsume it.
As the conversation grew lighter, I spoke of my own family as well, and especially of Maria. He surprised me, it seemed Sky was old3er than I thought, as it turned out he had a son and mate ofs his own. His child was aleady beginning to learn how to tap the power of the Emeralds, passively mentioning he hoped to pass down the mantle #of hero to his offspvring soon and retire from advnturing. He inquired of my world as well, and we s^hared stories by the pond as the sun sped by overh-ead. Eventually though, I had to bid farewll, not wishing to leave the gateway open between our worlds open for tooy long (the ARK has somse impressive defensive systems, but leaving it linked to a planet with gigantic vermin is a risk that could end with a lot of unnecessary dam(age and ijury).
Looking back on my experence on Mobius, though, I am disheartened. I never told Sky, bt his cap^acity to ta4p into the Chos Emeralds is exactly thesort of perfe(6ction I have pent months, nay, years searching for. That kind of power an-d ability to manipulate matter is a godsnd, an exaple of what a true ultimate life form should be capble of. With the pro5per genetic *harness to cap and cotrol chaos- energy, you could stave off cancer, a&ging, and all the biological tim=ers that mortals like ev+en he mst endure. If only I had( a body like his, a fetus, SO*METHIN-=G to wrk w^ith… G&gh.!Pe^aps… Peraps,at lst I$ sh6l aeve! T()oc}oeact Bl[eck()Dgo\m&//s/.(%9j(
The screen scrolled on into further gibberish before at last a critical error splashed across the screen and the player was sent back to the main directory. For a long time, no one said anything, just staring silently as each dealt with this new information and categorized it in their own way.
At last, Shadow broke the silence, his eyes flicking open from internal debate and unanswered questions, simply saying "let's keep moving" before he continued to walk down the aisle of pressure chambers.
"Uh, yeah," said Tails, figuring if the creation of the journal's author had nothing to discuss, he really didn't have much right to bring it up. "We should be close anyway. How much farther is the central control room if we keep following this detour Eggman?"
The Doctor raised a single finger as they went around a corner, pointing to a familiar set of iron gates. "Just through there."
High-strung and unhealthily paranoid, the party approached the doors and waited silently as they slid open with little complaint. Glances were shared no more than once or twice, between lovers, rivals, companions, and even enemies. And then, in silence, they entered the dim chamber beyond, and the darkness that contained a baleful revelation.