Chapter 05: The Plot Thickens

The Emerald Guardian flew in the direction of Prison Island, and Rouge was holding on for dear life on the underside of the ship, when her communicator went off. "This is Rouge."

"Rouge." said Captain Danko over the communicator. "Go to Prison Island and rendezvous with Shadow and aid him in searching for the remaining two Emeralds."

"Affirmative." then Rouge cut off the communication and said: "Shadow, huh? I wonder what kind of guy he is? I guess I'll find out when I arrive there." Rouge then disconnected herself from the Emerald Guardian and flew towards Prison Island in the distance.

On the island, Sonic was placed in a high security prison cell and under heavy guard. But he wasn't worried, as he knew that somebody was coming for him. And he was right. The Star Tornado flew in low towards the island and landed in the outlying jungles undetected. They had to go on foot to get the facility. But as they approached the gates of the facility, Luke used the Force to mind trick the guards into letting them pass. "Tails, Kaylor, and I will go search for information. Amy, you go find Sonic." said Luke.

"Yes, Master Skywalker." said Amy respectfully and she happily set off to find Sonic.

But nobody noticed a black Escort Shuttle coming in for a landing not far from the area. Shadow exited the Shuttle, and began his trek towards the facility. Rouge also landed on the lower portions of the island and begun her infiltration of the lower levels of the facility.

Luke, Kaylor, and Tails made their way towards the restricted zone, where the break-in occurred the night before. They made it past the tightened security by using Luke's credentials and walked over to the chamber. "Looks pretty ancient to me. This technology seems pretty obsolete." pondered Kaylor.

"Sure is. Must have been from earlier in Mobius' history." said Tails as he and R2 walked over to the control console. "The systems been accessed. Looks like someone had to access this console to release Shadow from that Cryo-Stasis unit." said Tails. R2 then was plugged into the console as he worked to find what he could.

Meanwhile, Amy stealthily snuck past the guards and towards Sonic's cell. She had to sneak past many guards. But then suddenly, the alarms went off: "INTRUDER ALERT!! INTRUDER ALERT!!! All personnel please respond!!" The guards all headed to where the action was, which wasn't far from where Sonic was, and from where Amy was. So Amy decided to investigate, and then she heard blaster shots, and saw several guards die in front of her. But when she peeked around, she saw much smoke, and saw what appeared to be Sonic.

"Oh, Sonic! I knew I'd find you!" she said as she ran to embrace the figure, but then, she noticed something: this one was rather cold, and didn't react. But she then stopped right away and looked, and realized: "Hey, you're not Sonic! Who are you!!" The hedgehog simply stared at Amy, but turned his attention to a squad of Republic Soldiers that attempted to kill him, but Shadow drew two blaster rifles and charged the soldiers. Amy was rather surprised, but then, seeing her chance to get to Sonic's cell, ran towards it.

She then used a control key she picked off a guard to open the door to where Sonic's cell was, she was very pleased. "Sonic! I finally found you!!"

"Well, Amy. I wasn't planning on being rescued." said Sonic as he lounged away.

"What?!! I came all the way out here with Tails, Luke, Kaylor, and R2 to come and get you, and you don't wanna leave?!" said Amy in surprise.

"I came here to find out about that fake hedgehog that framed me." said Sonic.

"Fake Hedgehog?" asked Amy. "I think I saw him earlier! He's after something!" she added as she unlocked Sonic's cell, and Sonic leapt to his feet.

"He's done exactly what I had anticipated. I'd better go get him." said Sonic as he raced out the door.

Back at Castle Acorn, there was a sudden transmission, much to the surprise of Leia, Sally, 3P0, Han and Chewie. "Attention Republic Forces on the Planet Mobius! This is Admiral Dante Forell. By order of the Empire we demand that you submit to our demands, or suffer the consequences of our actions!"

Leia handled the situation herself and said: "Admiral, what business do you have trespassing in Republic Space? Withdraw your vessel or our fleet will open fire!"

"Princess Leia…I think it would be a wise choice for your fleet to back off. We now control the Space Colony ARK, and its primary weapon, the Eclipse Cannon. If you do not submit to the demands we have sent you. We will destroy the planet. And just to show you we are not bluffing, allow for us to demonstrate this weapon's destructive power!" then Forell ended his communication and an image of the ARK appeared.

"That's the small moon we saw every year! I never thought it to be a space station!" gasped Sally.

Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, and Dulcy, along with Knuckles and Julie-Su, entered the room to see what all the commotion was. They watched as they saw a half-section of the ARK detached from the station, and revealing a large cannon. "What is that ol' thing?" asked Bunnie.

"Must be that Eclipse Cannon that they were talking about. If they're targeting the fleet, then order it to get away from it!" Sally ordered the officers.

The Republic fleet received the order to get away as the ARK turned towards the Republic Fleet. The ships scattered to try and get out of the line of fire, but it did little good, for soon the ARK was pointed directly at them. "Commence firing sequence." ordered Commander Akuji. The Cannon opened up and soon surges of energy began to spark, and then, a large beam shot out from the cannon and surged at the Republic fleet, and destroyed 3 Mon Calamari crusiers and a few Assault Frigates. Everyone below was horrified as half a Rebel fleet was destroyed by a single blast.

"Whoa….that was even worse than the 2nd Death Star…" murmured Leia.

Then, Forell came on and said: "Now that you've seen it, we are giving you 6 hours to comply, or our next target will be the Planet Mobius. Don't try anything or we will turn the cannon on anything you throw at us!" then Forell ended his transmission.

The Freedom Fighters and the Heroes were horrified, and knew that they had to move quickly. "What are we gonna do now?" asked Rotor.

"We wait for Luke and the others to return. Then we go up there and find a way to stop this!" said Sally.

Now Luke and the others had witnessed this catastrophe, since R2 had relayed the message. "We don't have much time! We have to find Sonic and get outta here!" said Kaylor.

"Quite right! We have to hurry!" agreed Luke as he, Kaylor, Tails, and R2 raced out the door and went to find Sonic and Amy.

Shadow meanwhile was walking through the lower levels of the base, blasting sentry turrets and guards. But then, he turned to see Rouge. "So, I finally found you, Rouge." said Shadow sternly.

"Shadow the Hedgehog. You're even more charming in person." said Rouge sarcastically.

"I have no time for this." said Shadow. "Where's the vault where the Chaos Emeralds are?"

"I think they are down this way. I'll get on it Shadow." said Rouge. "I'll have that door open in no time!" Rouge and Shadow ran towards the vault where the Emeralds were. But whilst Rouge was trying to override the door mechanism, Shadow had a flashback to his past.

It was of him and a girl running away from a group of soldiers that were sent to shut down the ARK. One raised a gun on the girl and fired at her and wounded her. "MARIA!!!" shouted Shadow.

Back in reality, Shadow thought: "Maria….soon I will make the life forms of this planet suffer for what they did. I promise…"

Rouge then noticed Shadow looking very deep in thought. "Something bothering you Shadow?"

"It's none of your business." grumbled Shadow.

"I know you've got something on your mind, so spill it out!" demanded Rouge.

"Fine! If you insist!" growled Shadow. "50 Years ago, I was living on the Space Colony ARK. The only person who cared for me was a girl named Maria Robotnik. She was both the grandfather of my creator and the only friend I ever had. I can't remember my past clearly now, but I remember that at some point, the government decided to shut down the research done there, and killed everyone aboard. Maria and I attempted to escape to the escape pods, but before we could escape, a squad found us and then….then they shot her. I couldn't do anything but watch her die. I then was ejected down onto the planet, where I was captured and placed in the cryo-stasis unit. Since that day, I've wanted vengeance for what happened to Maria. Whatever is coming to this planet, it is deserved."

"So you're in it for revenge? That's not a very good reason." said Rouge now sounding worried.

"Don't patronize me! I lost the only friend I had that day! I want some blood to spill!" growled Shadow.

"I'm amazed at you Shadow." said a voice. Rouge and Shadow turned to the sight of Sonic sitting in the doorway. "You want to kill everyone on this planet for a crime that they never committed? The humans on this planet are from all over the galaxy, and they know nothing of this."

"So what? It matters not what happens to them, but humanity and anyone who dares to stand against me will die for its mistake!"

"Killing everyone here won't take the pain away Shadow. You cannot take it out on all these people who had nothing to do with this!" said Sonic trying to reason with him.

"I will kill whoever gets in my way! So don't you dare question me!!" then Shadow charged Sonic and knocked him into the wall. The battle was just heating up.