Chapter 03: Wrong Hedgehog!
As the Star Tornado and the Millennium Falcon landed close to the storehouse, they saw a whole force of Republic Soldiers and tanks were assessing the damage. The heroes exited their ships and walked towards the storehouse.
Sonic then noticed a group of soldiers questioning a staff member. The member looked very traumatized by whatever committed this crime. "Now, what did the perpetrator look like?" asked a soldier.
The staff member opened his eyes, and when he saw Sonic, he started to get very frightened. "hed…hed…he….hedgehog!! HEDGEHOG!!" he screamed. The soldiers stared at Sonic, and then the soldier walked up to Sonic and then he asked: "Sonic, do you have anything to do with this incident?"
"What? I wasn't even here! Why are you pointing fingers at me?" asked Sonic. The Freedom Fighters and the Republic heroes looked at Sonic.
"The…thief…was…a hedgehog!!" shouted the staff member.
"Men, arrest Sonic the Hedgehog for questioning!" shouted the soldier.
"NO!!" shouted Sally as Sonic was forced to run away from the soldiers as the TC-9 Transports and T-47 Airspeeders gave chase. "Why are they accusing Sonic?!"
"I don't know!" shouted Leia. "But let's not get caught in the crossfire. Sonic can get out of this. Let's see what we can find out what we can here!"
Leia and Sally walked over to the staff member and Sally asked: "Was this Hedgehog Sonic?" The man didn't answer, so Sally grabbed the man and asked again: "Was it Sonic?!!"
"It was….someone who looked like him…." then the man fainted. Sally was quite frustrated.
But then, Han shouted: "Hey Sally, take a look at this!"
"What is it Han?" asked Sally.
"Whoever did this didn't walk outta here." said Han looking at the blown open door. "He only came in, but never walked outta here, as there is no sign of him coming back out. At least not on foot anyway."
"You're right!" said Sally who walked over to the security terminal and said: "NICOLE, can you access the cameras?"
"Yes, Sally. Stand by." said NICOLE, who worked on accessing the cameras, and then produced a holographic image of the chamber in which the Chaos Emerald was, but then, the lights went out and someone who looked like Sonic smash the door down and snag the Emerald. Then, much to the surprise of all, the Hedgehog disappeared in the blink of an eye. "I am unable to create a clearer image of this intruder, but this will not prove Sonic's innocence."
"She's right." said Leia. "We need to go find answers if we even hope to clear Sonic's name, Sally."
"Okay Leia. But where do we start looking?" asked Sally.
"I say we return to the castle and wait. I mean, we shouldn't take any chances. With any luck, Sonic will return there once he gets away." said Leia.
"I guess you're right, not much we can do…wait, where's Luke?" asked Sally.
"I zink I saw Luke going after Sonic!" said Antoine.
"Then I think we should see what he does, before we make our move." said Leia as she, Han, Chewie, and 3P0 headed for the Falcon, and the Freedom Fighters boarded the Star Tornado and headed back to the castle.
Later that night, Sonic was hiding from the Republic troops, hoping that he could lose them in the city. But then, on his communicator, he intercepted a communication: "Attention all units, we have a break in at the Reserve Building, Chaos Emerald reported stolen."
"Maybe I can catch this imposter with his hands in the cookie jar!" said Sonic as he ran to the Reserve Building as quickly as he could. When he arrived there, he saw a large hole in the doorway, and to his surprise, he saw a Black Hedgehog exiting the building and holding what looked like Imperial Equipment. "Stop right there, imposter!"
Shadow simply glared at Sonic when he saw him and said: "You dare to interfere with my mission, Blue Hedgehog?"
"Where do you think you're going with that Chaos Emerald?" demanded Sonic. Shadow just smirked and then Sonic charged him and said: "Any last words, faker?"
"Chaos Control!" shouted Shadow, who disappeared before Sonic's eyes.
"Where did 'ya go, faker?" said Sonic looking all around. He then saw Shadow on the edge of a building, and said: "So, you used the Chaos Emerald to teleport, huh? Let's see if your fighting skills are any good!" Sonic then spin dashed at Shadow, who countered with his own spin dash. They then repulsed each other and began firing blaster pistols at each other, but neither scored a hit. They then exchanged homing attacks and spin dashed at each other. But then, Shadow began firing off Chaos Spears at Sonic, who barely managed to dodge them, but the distraction allowed for Shadow to shoot him in the shoulder, and make Sonic fall onto his back.
"You are too weak to be my fake! Now I shall finish you!" said Shadow as he trained his blaster pistol on Sonic. But then the sound of a Lightsaber igniting was heard, and out of the shadows came Luke. Shadow fired at the Jedi, but his shots were no match for Luke's Lightsaber. Shadow then holstered his weapon as he dodged Luke's Lightsaber slashes, and then fired off Chaos Spears at the Jedi, which again proved useless. "So, you're the famous Luke Skywalker? You aren't that tough, Jedi!" taunted Shadow.
"Do not underestimate my power. I am strong in the ways of the Force!" replied Luke as he pushed Shadow back with a Force Push. "I'm sensing that something motivates you. I sense that the Dark Side has a firm grip on you…"
"I am the Ultimate Life Form! Shadow the Hedgehog! Nothing, no one, and not even a Jedi can stop me!!" interrupted Shadow as he fired a Chaos Spear at Luke's arm. But since that arm was artificial, Luke was not hurt by the spear. Luke then slashed his Lightsaber at Shadow, and struck him in the left arm. But the Lightsaber didn't sever Shadow's arm, instead slicing it, causing Shadow to bleed. realizing he had no time to toil with a Jedi Master, Shadow then said: "Chaos Control!" and then disappeared.
But then, Luke walked over to a recovering Sonic, and then they heard the sound of a ship taking off. They looked up and saw a JV-7 Escort Shuttle taking off into the night sky. But then, Luke turned to Sonic and gave him some bacta to heal his wound. "Man, that guy Shadow can match me at every turn!" groaned Sonic as he got back to his feet.
"I know. But I don't think he's an ordinary life-form. He said that he is the Ultimate Life Form…"
"Weird…." said Sonic. But then, they heard the sound of Republic vehicles closing in. Then Sonic had an idea. "Luke, let me get captured. I need to find answers! I'm afraid you could be captured for aiding a fugitive."
"You're right. It could buy us some breathing space while the rest of us try to help. Get ready, I'll pretend that I captured you." Then Luke held his Lightsaber blade close to Sonic as the Republic troops arrived, and then they took Sonic aboard a Rebel Shuttle to take him to the Prison Island Base. Luke then headed back to his X-Wing to meet up with the others.
But meanwhile, Sally, Leia, and 3P0 were in the situation room inside the castle, watching for any suspicious activity. "Unidentified vessel coming out of hyperspace in sector 5." said an officer.
"Can you identify it?" asked Sally.
The officers scanned the vessel, and said: "Executor Class, it appears to be Admiral Forell's ship, the Apocalypse."
"The Apocalypse?" said Leia. "Why would a ship that size come alone?"
"Should we try to drive it off?" asked another officer.
"Not yet." replied Leia. "Let's see what he's doing, contact the local fleet and stand by to engage if he turns on us."
"Yes, ma'am. The Apocalypse appears to be running thorough scans of the area."
"They're looking for something." pondered 3P0.
"Keep an eye on them." said Sally.
"Yes your highness. We are also picking up Skywalker's X-Wing arriving." said the officer.
"C'mon, Sally. Let's go see Luke at once." said Leia. "It's time we figured out what is going on here."
Meanwhile, the Apocalypse launched Admiral Forell's shuttle with a TIE Fighter escort to rendezvous with Shadow's Escort Shuttle. They flew towards the small moon, where they land in two separate hangars as a squad of Forell's Stormtroopers, along with Commander Akuji's Storm Commandos secured the station. Shadow then led Admiral Forell to a large chamber which looked like a large energy weapon. "This is the ARK's primary weapon, the Eclipse Cannon."
"Looks like the superlaser on the two Death Stars." said Akuji.
"You're quite right, Commander. What will we need to do in order to power up this device?" asked Forell.
"It uses the power of the Chaos Emeralds. You need 5 in order to have sufficient power to use it." said Shadow.
"5 you say?" pondered the Admiral. "With the 3 we have, and the 2 we have, I say we are right on schedule." then the Admiral reached for his communicator and said: "Bring the 3 Emeralds we have over, now." Within a matter of minutes, a pair of Stormtroopers walked into the room with a large case, and inside were 3 Chaos Emeralds that they had acquired over the past few months. They soon got to work figuring out how to power up the cannon.