Even though the Misty Mountain lived up to its name, it was easy to spot Nega's complex in the Valley. Crackling fires left behind them, the group stood at the last leg of their journey. "So...Nega got any more bots like that?" Sonic asked in a soft but serious voice. He couldn't see much of anything in the mists that permeated the area, only a stream of colored light shooting up from the center of Nega's complex, which breached the top of the misty bowl.
"Not that I know of..." Blaze sighed, "but he's been working on an army…no telling how many robots are down there." She motioned to a few scout units that just barely moved in the fog. They looked like no more than gray dots in a milky soup, but after being chased by them, she knew better.
"So how do we get in?" Ready as Amy was for a fight, she saw the look in Sonic's eyes. It had changed the moment he found out there was a new life in her. After they'd left the inferno behind, Blaze had helped her patch the wound, which was mercifully shallow, but the blood stain on her dress was still a concern.
"I'll show you." Blaze led them over to a cropping of ruins where a deep basin was that once held a great fire. One of the few places her talents were of any worth in her mind, she set the altar ablaze, and the stone rolled back, revealing a passageway. "Misty Palace wasn't always like that."
"Ancient Chinese secret, eh?" Sonic joked. At least he still had a sense of humor, even if it was a bad one.
"Sonic!" Amy made a face at him while Blaze just looked confused. "Don't mind him... How'd you know about this?"
"Well…." Blaze led them down the stairs, using her fire once again to illuminate their way. "I kind of...well...ruled from here."
"Ueeeh!? You're royalty!?" Amy squeaked.
"Yeah," Blaze said modestly.
Amy studied the cat's poise and outfit as they walked. She was wearing more clothing than most Mobians she knew. Out in Knothole, which was a small town, they wore less, such as Sally's simply wearing a vest. That had begun to change as the city got larger, but still, these weren't cheap Wally-World duds. The pants she had were silk, the tailored shirt lovingly embroidered fine fabric. The way she carried herself, so straight and proud, was more than simple feline behavior. "You really are royalty, aren't you?! Wow! I'm so sorry we didn't know, Your Highness!"
"Hey! Chill out, will ya? You know Sally well enough, I bet she doesn't like titles either!" Sonic barked back at her.
Blaze blushed a bit. "I'm just doing what I have to for my people..." she said softly.
"And Silver," Sonic added firmly to a relaxed smile from the cat.
"You big meanie!" Bigga Mack whined, having been literally disarmed by Knuckles.
"Oi, you lost fair and square, so shut up." Knuckles shrugged, following the two beaten up robots.
Minor Joe was also sporting bruise-like bumps all over his metal frame, to the point it was hard to see his eyes. The pair of them were sulking as they walked. "Man, why'd we have to make a deal with him?" the skinny robot complained.
"Well, if you'd like me to finish you guys off, I could." Knuckles shrugged. "Tails can guide me, you know, so I really don't need you." He cracked his knuckles.
The pair of them appeared scared. "No no!" Mack called.
"We're almost there! Honest!" Joe nodded vigorously.
Knuckles shrugged. "Have it your way." I hope they aren't leading me to some kind of trap...
"Here we are!" Mack had a suspiciously upbeat tone as he opened the room to the right of where Shadow had gone.
Knuckles sighed. "You guys gotta tell Eggman not to be so much...trouble..." The door slammed behind him, and in the dim lighting a dinosaur-like robot roared at him. "Definitely not so much trouble…." The mechanical creature's belly glowed green and Knuckles sighed. "I hope you're tough as you look."
The two bots snickered outside the door. "Sucker!" Mack grinned.
"Yeah! That'll teach you! Roborex will get ya for sure!"
The pair of robots eavesdropped on the battle inside. Clashes of flesh versus steel raged within, bashing and battering noises filling the air. Knuckles' enraged cries echoed as his fist smashed through wooden and metal crates. The roborex snapped at Knuckles with powerful jaws, tearing at him and ignoring any damage to the room either of them might cause.
Eventually the pair of robots heard Rex's jaws bite down on his prey and Knuckle's muted yell. The two looked at each other, then listened in on the room. It was silent inside. "You think it won?" Joe said in a hushed tone.
"Of course!" Mack said more boldly.
"Think we should check on it? I mean, Eggman would want to know if we umm...succeeded, right?" Joe listened to the room but couldn't hear anything but minor growls from Rex.
"Yeah, sure." Mack nodded and released the lock on the door. The pair went inside the room, which was in complete shambles. Ammo, supplies, beams, and boxes all lay strewn on the floor. In a corner of the room was the Roborex, the light from his belly casting the eerie shape of an echidna onto the wall. "Hey! Rex! Come on, show us what ya ate, ya big dumb lump of steel!" Roborex turned, an apparently unconscious echidna stored in the glowing green liquid in its stomach.
The robots were relieved, but a little sickened at the sight. "Oioioi…." Joe said in a hushed tone, "Eggman's building stranger robots, don't you think?"
"Yeah...well, he's not gonna give us any more trouble now, is he, Rex?" He beamed at the mechanical dino, though it was short lived. The fluid encasing the echidna began to glow far more brightly, and the dinobot took a step back as if he'd just been hit with a sucker punch. "What the-?!"
All at once, the echidna's brilliant orchid eyes flew open and the energies around him condensed into his body. A half second later, his knuckles shattered the thick glass that encased said liquid.
"Hiiiyaaaah!" Knuckles burst out of it, his body glowing so that the red it normally was had become almost white with the Chaos energy. "Miss me?!" His fist knocked into the nearest robot, Joe, who flew into Mack, and both flew out the opened door into the neighboring room. Knuckles gave a slight glance at the powered down mecha before following the two.
"W-what kinda freak are you!?" Mack said, trembling behind Joe.
"The kind who doesn't like being tricked." He shrugged and rubbed his neck lightly. "Shall we try this again?" The Chaos drive he'd absorbed began to wear off, his fur returning to its normal state.
On Shadow's end, he'd finally caught up to the villain, the two staring each other down in another cavernous room filled with glowing pillars and complex machines. It sported a wonderfully open space on the floor and little room to hide, as the pillars were mostly clear tubes carrying supplies to different points of the ship.
"What a surprise," Eggman said lowly from his favored mech.
"I've come for Maria," Shadow said coldly, fixing the scientist with a certain look. It held neither anger nor contempt; it was a stoic gaze, dispassionate and void. It was that emptiness to the glare that sent shivers down the man's spine. Very clearly his eyes said 'Do not interfere if you value your life.'
"I'm afraid that's not possible…." Eggman sighed. He flicked a switch on his mecha, which targeted Shadow, and held a finger on the trigger. "Let's be reasonable...you have any idea what good your daughter's going to do for the world?"
"I know all about the world merger." Shadow shrugged. "But you're not using her to do it."
"I have no choice," Eggman said with some regret in his tone as he pulled the trigger. Shadow was no longer before him and he worked quickly to find his target. The Egg Walker released a number of bombs in all directions, which clung to various surfaces and blinked menacingly. A slight surprised gasp from Shadow betrayed his location, and the mad scientist launched a targeting laser at him.
"Damn it!" Shadow spun aside, though the linked bombs blew in rapid succession. He had to move fast to avoid them, only to fall victim to another laser. The hedgehog stood, breathing a bit heavier as he moved his hand over the burn mark. "Heh...am I a target or what?" His hand rested over where Duo's bullet had passed through a couple months ago. His body mentally relived the pain of that shot.
"I'm giving you a chance now, Shadow... Leave, now," Eggman ordered as a series of lasers bent before Shadow's eyes, all converging on one point. He slipped aside, being missed by the firepower this time. A glowing red-hot point existed where the laser had struck, and the metal plating melted away from it seconds later.
"You chose the wrong target," Shadow replied, disappearing in a flash, and the barrel of one of Eggman's guns came clattering to the ground just after.
The scientist grimaced. Another round of bombs clung to the surfaces of the room. The blasts wouldn't destroy his fortress; he'd built it up too well for that. "Sorry, I really am, but...I can't afford to play this kind of game with you. If you know about the shift then you should just accept that your daughter's sacrifice--" The man's eyes, hidden behind black-lensed glasses, widened in shock as Shadow hefted him by the collar with one hand.
"What were you saying about sacrifice?" Shadow's tone darkened, anger at last seeping into it. He threw the scientist to the ground and sat himself in the cockpit, training the very weapons he had been using moments before against him.
Sweat beaded on his brow. "Ahh...come on, Shadow...really! This is most uncivilized..." He backed himself toward the door to the World Gate Amplifier.
"I wonder what happens when I push this button..." he said drolly as the laser just narrowly avoided hitting Eggman. "...Ready to give her back yet?" He shot another laser at Eggman. "I think I just found the auto-lock." Eggman gulped and slammed his hand against the panel next to him. It hissed open moments later. "That's more like it." He smiled grimly.
"Hey! Kunoichi...we have a guest!" Eggman called.
Shadow's ears were alerted by the name of the robot who kidnapped Maria. From the room that had just opened up, twin kodachis embedded themselves in the mech's controls. "Keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Shadow muttered softly and jumped out of the Egg Walker just before it blew up behind him. The flames framing his outline from behind suited him well.
"Gomen nasai," the ninja robot said, bowing to her adversary, though never taking her eyes off him. "I cannot let you pass." A set of small needles fanned out in her hand.
Shadow sighed. "Too bad you're evil, Sara would have loved to converse with you." He jumped over the incoming needles and launched himself into a spin at the robot. She proved fast, as he passed through a ghost image of E-91.
"Enjoy your fight..." He paused and studied the two fighting. He didn't seem to care taking a hit, as Shadow's movements became increasingly reckless. A few of the bombs Eggman had placed went off, though without the trigger it was just the ones that made physical contact. "Incredible..." He watched Shadow detonate the bombs and manage to get out of blast range just before they would have inflicted harm, while trying to lead Kunoichi into the fray. What kind of monster did you make, Grandfather?