Sonic had left a text message for Shadow to meet him at the MRC, since he wasn't answering his cell phone. Of course, he had no way of knowing that was because Shadow was at the MRC right now, waiting for Maria's testing to finish. He'd contacted Amy too, letting her know about the unexpected twist in his day.
At present he was waiting by the feline's side and wondering what her story was. Eventually her eyes started to flutter open. "Ahh! You're awake!" Sonic said with some relief.
"Ooowww...what hit--oh...!" The cat tried to get up quickly but fell back against the bed, dizzy. "Wh--where am I!" Her eyes shot open wide, her golden eyes scanning desperately for any threats. Her eyes resting on the blue hedgehog who'd saved her, she immediately felt something...but she couldn't say what. "...Who are you?"
"Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog." He smiled.
"Nega...? Metal?" Her voice shivered with her body, recalling the fatiguing run she'd been in, presumably that morning.
"Nega?" Sonic looked puzzled.
"Oh! The emerald!" The feline's eyes held a frantic edge to them.
"Hold on, it's safe!" Sonic said in total confidence. His emerald eyes locked with hers and somehow that calmed her. "Can I get a name?"
"Oh uhh...Blaze…." For the first time since waking up, she checked over her condition. Her hand didn't bother her, but her ankle felt like it was on fire. "Nnn...I need to get the emerald...I..."
"I told you, it's safe with me." Sonic scratched behind his ear as the door to the recovery room opened and a black and red hedgehog walked in with a baby girl in one arm. "Hey, Shads! You're a bit late aren't you?"
"...Call me Faker, damn it…." Shadow grumbled at him. "Hmph…." He looked at the cat, also seeing something mildly familiar about her. "So what about the emerald? Why did you have it?"
"I was stealing it from Nega..." Blaze started without asking him an introduction. "He has five of them now…. If he gets them all...I...I don't know what will happen, but it's bad! The weather started acting funny a few months ago. I've been trying to find out why... It has to be Eggman Nega."
"Eggman?" both hedgehogs exclaimed.
"Well that explains a lot." Sonic took a deep breath. "She's from the echo."
"Echo?" Blaze looked at the two quizzically.
"Sorry, you're on Earth..." Shadow began. "The neighboring dimension is Mobius, and between the two there's a gate. That's how our kind are here... But now the worlds are being drawn even closer, and there's an 'echo' coming too... My father-in-law said it's the future of both worlds."
"...The future..." Blaze breathed in disbelief. She looked Sonic over again. "AHH! You're the robot!"
"Eh?" Sonic blinked and twitched an ear.
The lavender cat nodded her head vigorously. "Yeah! There's a robot called Mecha...Mecha...Sonic 3.0... Nega built him, but I can see now, he's based on you. OH! He was chasing me, I hope he doesn't come here!" She wondered if he too had a portable gate generator and would be hot on her heels. Knowing Nega needed the seven emeralds, it was likely the past wouldn't be safe with her here.
"Sounds like Eggman's doing all right," Sonic sighed. "Man, what a bother." He twitched an ear in thought. "Ha! Then again, I'm up for a challenge, it's been a while! What about you Sha—oh..." He'd forgotten his "friend" had been hurt recently.
"I need to go home, just give me the emerald, okay?" Shadow said in an even tone. "If you've been followed, the robot won't be looking for you; it's the emerald, right?" He saw the apprehensive cat nod. "Sonic has a good idea for once, we're splitting up the emeralds. Don't worry, it'll be safe with me."
"Splitting up?" Blaze asked with a concerned look.
Sonic fished the two emeralds from his quills, the red sparklers starting to light up. Maria looked at the bright stones, giggling. "Yeah, welcome to the past, we got 'em here too." He turned to Shadow and handed the dark hedgehog the gemstone.
Maria reached for it, and he thought nothing of it until the room was enveloped in a bright red flash of light. "Oh! You brought me here?" the little hedgehog said while staring directly at Blaze.
"What the!" Sonic started in amazement.
Shadow looked at his girl while she slipped into another episode, this one directly triggered by the red Chaos Emerald. "What now?"
"He's still there... And in pain," Maria said clearly.
"Who is he? Who is this...Element?" Shadow asked in a calm tone. Sonic's mouth hung open and Blaze's ears went back. Neither of them had ever seen anything like this.
"He is...the...the white hedgehog," Maria said in a smooth voice. Her crimson eyes had lost their black irises and now more closely resembled the emerald she was now holding onto.
"Silver?" Blaze said in a frightened whisper; the child nodded.
"He is the Element of the future. But the Element from the past...has yet to be determined," Maria continued.
"What is this Element?" Shadow asked in a firm tone.
"It's what Nega needs to unite the past and future. But it's hurting him. He wants to live. I can feel it." Maria's tone remained as steady as her father's. "We want him to be free, but we must follow the stronger will, which Nega has forced on him."
"Uh...excuse me?" Sonic finally said, finding his voice in the glowing red light that washed over the room. "Who are we?"
"The Emeralds," Maria replied. "We're heading for disaster…. Save us too."
The light in the room disappeared from the Chaos Emeralds, and once again the world returned to normal. Natural light returned to Maria's eyes, and the babe snuggled against her father's chest, cooing and carrying on like a normal baby once more. Outside the building, though, the flash of light had garnered unwanted attention.
"Umm...Shadow?" Sonic looked at his friend and Maria in concern. "What you been feeding that kid?"
"Hmph." Shadow snorted at Sonic and tucked the emerald into his quills. "It doesn't matter, I don't think it will happen again. We know enough." He looked to Blaze. "So you want to save your friend in the future? It looks like we have a common goal now."
Outside the MRC, a blue robot targeted the window outside. There was a buildup of energy from his hands, and a second later, a hole was blown in the side of the hospital room. Blaze's screams echoed inside, as well as a crying baby and a few curses from Sonic and Shadow.
The metal hedgehog was pleased and flew in to see what he'd done. "Get her out of here!" Sonic shouted, and the metal being was surprised by a homing attack that collided with him upon reaching the opening he'd made in the side of the building.
"Hang onto me," Shadow commanded as he helped the cat out of the hospital bed. He could hear staff running to check out what the explosion was about, but there was no time for explanations.
"Aaah! But you're hurt too!" Blaze remarked about his still bandaged chest.
"I'll just have to see how much I've recovered," he said calmly while Sonic had his metal doppleganger's attention.
"Looks like Nega isn't that original...tch...Metal Sonic's been done to death."
"You are the original," the machination said in a cold and calculating voice. His sensors sprang to life, suddenly displaying combat statistics and analyzing his foe. The two clashed again in the air as Metal 3.0 gave a burst of speed from some propulsion unit, simulating a homing attack of his own.
"Yep! No fakers, please, accept no substitutions!" Sonic quipped. He let the momentum push him back toward the hospital, and then launched himself back at his foe.
Shadow had just reached the edge of the gaping hole in the building and looked down. They were on the 8th floor. "Long way down..." A moment later, Sonic flew back into the building and slammed against one of the hospital beds. "Can't you watch where you're going?" Blaze screamed right in his ear. The cause of her fear was apparent as Metal floated down to eye level.
"Hand over the emerald," it ordered.
Shadow sighed. "No original lines either. Sorry, she doesn't have what you want. This is a hospital, you know...you should show some respect." He kicked a chunk of fallen rubble into the robot's face, which it tried to disintegrate with an optic laser. In the meantime, Shadow leapt out the gaping hole and fell rapidly toward the ground, Blaze screaming the whole way. "Shut up!" he demanded, starting to control his fall until his feet touched against the building. The soles of his shoes lit with energy and he skated downwards at a brisk pace. He just worried about if he could make the transition to the ground as smoothly.
"Watch it!" Sonic's voice called from behind as he slammed a foot into Mecha Sonic 3, who had started flying after them. "It's a long way down, buddy!" He jumped and curled into a ball, another homing attack launched at the bot. It was very durable, it had that going for it.
Shadow managed to straighten out and keep running once he hit the ground level, but without gravity backing him, he was really feeling the strain on his body. Damn sniper... he thought. He'd parked his Extreme Gear not far from where they were, but this Mecha Sonic was hyper-responsive compared to Eggman's original Metal or Mecha Sonic. "...Try not to scream, will you? I'm trying to hear what's going on behind us!" Blaze mutely nodded, though Maria began crying, something he couldn't do anything about at the moment.
"Is that all you got?" Sonic grinned and continued his hit-and-run tactics on the bot.
"No. Are you done having your fun?" it asked, going into a more leisurely flight after Shadow and Blaze.
"Huh? You kidding? I'm having a blast!" Sonic replied. Weird…it asked me that...like it's alive.
"Well, I can make that a literal statement then," Metal 3 replied. The tone of its voice hadn't changed a bit, but some panels opened on its shoulders and Sonic was quite sure weapons were aimed from them. He was right, as twin missiles launched at them and he let two blasts fly from his wrists as well.
"Chaos...Control!" Sonic shouted. He really didn't want to use it to dodge the blasts but had no choice.
At the same time, though, Mecha 3 gave the same command. "Chaos...Control." Nega had given him an emerald as well, the silver one. He caught the shocked look on Sonic's face as he realized they were both moving at the same speed. "My my...this is fun."
"Aaaa... What's happening?" Blaze looked back at where the two fighters had been. The area was enveloped in smoke and neither figure was discernible through it.
"Don't worry about it. Sonic can handle himself." Shadow hopped onto the gear, cringing inside as his chest ached from the still tender injuries. "Make sure you guard her with your life," he said as he handed Maria to Blaze. The cat nodded, and held onto Shadow with one arm and the babe with the other.
Sonic harshly fell from the sky when Chaos Control had run its course. Even he had to cringe. But there was no time to stay down. He rolled into a spin dash just in time to dodge another onslaught of lasers from the robot. "Whoa..." Sonic found himself breathing heavily. "You aren't playing around, are you?"
Mecha 3 walked out of the smoke and debris of where Sonic had landed, a glowing ball of energy in his right palm. "I am following orders. I am also attempting to have fun."
"Lucky me, huh?" Sonic smirked. He'd have to lead the metal monster away from the hospital though; he played rough.
"Am I doing it right?" He sped toward Sonic, who had just enough time to dodge the nasty right hook. Its metal arm went into the building, and the energy it released caused a massive crack in the building extending three floors high.
"What the---! HEY! Over here, bud! That was NOT Cool!" Sonic taunted, heading away from the building and running circles.
The optics got a lock on the emerald Sonic had used when he turned to his adversary. "I am not ordered to kill you. I must retrieve the right emerald, though. That isn't it," it said and scanned the area. The fleeing vehicle; that was it. Mecha Sonic hit the afterburners and raced after his prey.
"HEY! Come on! We were fighting here!" Sonic called after it as Mecha had dismissed him. Shadow's in no condition to fight!
At the very least, Shadow had managed a head start. He checked the air gauge in the Gear; it was about half full. The rear view revealed his unpleasant suspicion they were being followed. "Good thing I'm not Sonic..." He flicked a switch on the Gear's controls and a panel opened up. There was a gun inside; it looked similar to a 9 mm gun, but different somehow.
"A gun?" Blaze asked. "But that won't hurt Metal…. He's too strong! The alloy…."
Shadow shrugged. "It's not an ordinary gun. I had Tails give it a tune-up." He grinned with something dangerous belying his smile. There was an air station just down the block. He'd be in need of it soon enough, and headed there, opening the Gear up to its top speed. A half pipe of wind opened in the vehicle's wake, something the automaton took full advantage of, riding his current.
"He's almost on us!" Blaze exclaimed as the Gear came to a dead stop at the air station. "We've stopped? But...!"
"Good bye, Faker." Shadow turned over his shoulder with the Gun aimed at Mecha and fired just as he reached point blank range. The gun did two things. First, a high powered laser burned a point on the metal surface, which, if it didn't melt away the metal, softened it. Next, the bullet embedded itself into the laser's hole, detonating a high explosive in its target.
Quite shocked to put it mildly, the robot flew back down the street, skidding on the pavement and crashing into a light post. There was a sickening scraping sound as its metal quills raked the pavement, and parts of its flawless metal blue paint job flaked away. Its skull was dented inward, but hardly destroyed.
"What..." Blaze began, but Shadow made her sit back down.
"Hang on!" The refueling done, the Gear took off in a gale. An explosion was heard behind them as Mecha 3 sent a storm of missiles after them.
"Ahh! Damn you're destructive!" Sonic slammed the robot back to the ground and repeated a homing attack several times at his back. "Picking on someone who's hurt! I'm still here, buddy!" After the brutal beating, Mecha 3 stood. The two hedgehog forms locked gazes. Sonic's determined emerald eyes shone brilliantly to his metallic blood red eyes. "Well? Come and get some!"
Metal 3 looked down the street. His scanners could no longer detect the emerald. "You made me lose my target. What a pity."
"Come on, man!" Sonic stayed in a defensive pose.
"I am sorry, I no longer have a reason to play with you. Perhaps Nega will let me destroy you once the Element has fulfilled its duty." Mecha shrugged.
"Eh? More of that Element stuff? Come on! Fight me!" Sonic demanded.
The Mecha version looked at the original lump of flesh it was based on. The vitals were impressive for its species; its biorhythms acted at a phenomenal rate. It looked at the hedgehog as though he were alien. His metal gaze stared at him as though he did not exist. At last he processed some data he could use. "We will meet again. It has been decided." The robot bowed. In a flash of Chaos Control..it was gone, leaving Sonic alone on the abandoned city street.