Sonic Extended Generations
Chapter Seven: An Un-Supportive Shadow
Both Sonics jumped out of the portal and landed on top of a suspension bridge, where they found Shadow waiting for them on the opposite side.
"Hmph. It's about time you showed up..." The black hedgehog told the blue hedgehogs.
"So how's this gonna work, Shadow?" Asked 'Modern' Sonic. "Are we grinding across the cables and back?"
"Of course not." Shadow replied. "The two of us shall race across the whole highway."
"Heh-heh. Sounds like fun. But what about Mini-Me?" This made Shadow look at 'Classic' Sonic, but he just turned his head in disgust.
"I couldn't care less about your younger form." Hearing this, 'Classic' Sonic got angry and attempted to run towards Shadow, but 'Modern' Sonic grabbed his hand before he could make his way across the bridge.
"I know how you feel, buddy. This guy can tick me off, too." 'Modern' Sonic then pointed down towards some GUN robots on the road below. "Why don't you take your anger out on those GUN 'bots? That way, you'd be helping me beat Shadow by clearin' the road." 'Classic' Sonic liked the idea, and without a second thought, jumped down to the road below, leaving 'Modern' Sonic to deal with Shadow...
"Well, Sonic... are you ready?"
"Not yet... let's just give him a little more time..."
At that moment, 'Classic' Sonic landed on the road below as a jet flew overhead, making him sprint towards the GUN robots. Before they could fire at him, Sonic destroyed them like in the previous area: Jumping on them.
"*bzz* Blue hedgehog spotted." Reported the pilot of the jet flying overhead. "Preparing to engage... *bzz*" 'Classic' Sonic just kept running across the bridge, destroying more GUN robots along the way. But that was when the jet flew down towards Sonic and fired a missile at him! Sonic jumped over the missile before it impacted the road, but the jet wasn't finished yet... "*bzz* Negative impact. Repeat: Negative impact. I'm coming around... *bzz*" The pilot then started shooting bullets at Sonic as he ran towards the edge of the bridge. As the jet was closing in on Sonic, the hedgehog started bouncing off of a nearby blimp, causing the pilot to lose sight of him. "*bzz* Target lost. Repeat: Target lost. Please advise, over. *bzz*"
"*bzz* Fly around ALL of Radical Highway and find him!" Said a voice via radio. "I want that hedgehog within Prison Island by breakfast! *bzz*"
"*bzz* Copy that. *bzz*"
Once the jet flew away, 'Classic' Sonic sighed with relief from underneath the bridge. What the young hedgehog found strange was that while this highway seemed to be under construction, there was already 'movie' posters around the place; Once was advertising something called 'Chao In Space 2,' with two different-looking Chao staring at each other in front of flames. Another poster just had Sonic standing on a cliff away from a floating island in front of a massive airship, with a red-headed squirrel wearing a light-blue vest and a green echidna wearing a black hat and jacket on the side. There was no title, but there was a 'COMING SOON' underneath the poster. When 'Classic' Sonic decided the coast was clear, he started running down the road and through the loop to reach a straightaway... where he barely dodged a missile attack from the GUN jet!
"*bzz* Target has been re-aquired. *bzz*" The pilot reported as he turned around to engage Sonic once more. Sonic was now running faster than he ever had before, but that didn't stop the jet from firing more bullets at him! Sonic then looked back and saw that a missile was being launched, giving the hedgehog an idea... he turned around and jumped towards the missile. "*bzz* What's he doing?! *bzz*" Just when Sonic got close enough, he closed in on the missile with the trick he saw his older self do earlier, and he managed to knock the missile back at the screaming pilot, resulting in the jet's destruction! With a fist-pump, 'Classic' Sonic headed for the connecting tunnel...
Meanwhile, Shadow and 'Modern' Sonic both begin their race by grinding down both suspension cables of the bridge before jumping onto the road below. Both hedgehogs were moving at an even pace, until Shadow conjured up an arrow of energy in his hand...
"Chaos Spear!" He shouted as he threw the arrow at Sonic, but the blue hedgehog managed to Quick Step in order to get out of its range.
"So that's how you wanna play, huh?" 'Modern' Sonic asked the black hedgehog, who smirked in response. "Well, I guess it's time I left you in the dust..." And with that, Sonic started Boosting, leaving Shadow behind.
"Hmph. He has no idea of what I'm capable of..." Shadow said to himself. "Chaos Control!" Shadow suddenly disappeared in a flash... before reappearing right next to Sonic, who had stopped Boosting. "It seems you and I have more in common than I thought..." While Sonic seemed confused, Shadow started performing a Boost of his own, except he was hovering over the road instead of running, and his Boost aura was orange instead of light-blue.
"No way..." Sonic thought out loud. "Since when could Shadow do that?!" After shaking free of his confusion, Sonic Boosted after Shadow, but not before spotting a tower with a spinning head on top of it, along with the title 'NiGHTS' underneath it.
"Hmph. Hope you can keep up with me!" Shadow taunted as Sonic was bridging the gap between them.
"Hey, that's my line!" Sonic shouted. "Seriously, are you trying to make sure people can't tell us apart?!"
"Please. There are plenty of things I can do that you can't. For example..." Shadow replied as they Boosted through an entire blockade of GUN robots, before he threw another Chaos Spear at Sonic. This time, Sonic braked before the Chaos Spear could hit him, then he jumped over the sparkling after-effects before Boosting after Shadow once again. It was at that moment that two GUN jets started flying after both Sonic and Shadow. Once the jets started firing bullets at the hedgehogs, Sonic and Shadow jumped onto the seperate suspension cables, and started grinding up them, causing the jets to chase after them. But this was when both Sonic and Shadow took out the jets with Homing Attacks! Once both hedgehogs spotted the tunnel connected to the bridge, they gave each other the stink-eye before Boosting towards the tunnel...
"GO!"
"HERE I COME!"
Once they got closer to the tunnel, both Shadow and 'Modern' Sonic spotted 'Classic' Sonic and a large red-and-black robot fighting off more GUN robots. The young hedgehog was Spin Dashing through all the ground robots he could, while the robot fired its gatling guns at the floating robots. It was at this moment that Shadow and 'Modern' Sonic plowed through the rest of the GUN robots on opposite sides of the robot and 'Classic' Sonic.
"And that is how easily I can beat you, Sonic." Shadow told 'Modern' Sonic as they walked back to 'Classic' Sonic and the robot.
"No way, I beat you by a mile!" 'Modern' Sonic replied.
"Omega, you can detect speed, right?" Shadow asked the robot as he and 'Modern' Sonic made it to the robot.
"AFFIRMATIVE." Omega replied.
"Okay, then... who made it past you first? Sonic or myself?"
"ACCESSING MEMORY BANKS... PROCESSING DATA... SHADOW... ACCORDING TO MY RECORDS, I HAVE DETERMINED THAT YOU PASSED MY LOCATION .5 SECONDS AFTER SONIC."
"Sweet!"
"No..."
"SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. I SHALL BE INTERESTED TO TEST YOUR SPEED OUT IN BATTLE."
"Really? That sounds like fun. Why not right here?"
"NO. NOT NOW. BUT SOON, I SHALL COME TO YOU, ISSUING A CHALLENGE THAT YOU MUST ACCEPT." It was at that moment that a portal of light opened alongside a portal that lead to a high-tech place in space.
"Besides Sonic, I'm not finished with you yet..." Shadow pointed out, getting 'Modern' Sonic's attention. "Meet me at the ARK for a rematch. I want to settle our score right now." And with that, Shadow left through the portal to space.
"Bring it on, faker..." 'Modern' Sonic said to himself, before turning to 'Classic' Sonic.
"While I deal with Shadow, why don't you head back to the White Space with Omega over there?" 'Classic' responded with a nod before running after Omega through the light portal. 'Modern' Sonic was about to go after Shadow, but he spotted another poster within the tunnel; This one had Sonic in the middle of quite a few characters, and he was wearing a gauntlet. Underneath him was Shadow (who was wearing a cape and holding a gem of some sort), aswell as someone who looked like Sonic, but he was in a uniform of some sort. On one side of Sonic was a purple cat wearing sunglasses and holding a staff, while on the other side was a raccoon wearing a hat and overalls. Above Sonic was a wavy-like alien, aswell as two echidnas who looked like they were about to fight. One of those echidnas was Shade. "Weird... what's this for? 'Coming Soon?' That doesn't help... oh, well. Time to kick Shadow's butt!"
Seconds later, 'Modern' Sonic races from the portal and across the path that's connected to a large space station that had half of the moon in sight. It was at this moment that Shadow jumped onto a rail from on top of a tower. Sonic soon saw the same rail that Shadow was grinding on as they both approached the edges of what they were moving on. After they both leapt towards each other, they looked back at each other as the moon revealed its core to the station while spewing magma from its remains. It was at this moment that both Sonic and Shadow landed on another path below them, as an orb of purple light soared in front of them...
"An Energy Core?" Asked Sonic as he and Shadow ran after it.
"If you really are as powerful as I am, then I guess we'll both need to absorb two of them in order to unleash our ultimate attacks..." Shadow suggested.
"Then let's see if you can really keep up with me!" Sonic pointed out as he Boosted away from Shadow, towards the Energy Core.
"Hmph. My speed easily trumps yours, Sonic..." Shadow said to himself before Boosting after the blue hedgehog.
Shadow quickly caught up to Sonic with his own Boost, making Sonic feel a little uneasy... before he got an idea...
"Seriously, I feel like we've done this before..." Sonic told Shadow. "Don't you remember?"
"Forget it, Sonic." Shadow replied as they continued to chase the Energy Core. "I have."
"Only caused Eggman saved you and wiped your memory. Still haven't figured out why?"
"Grr... according to the Doctor, I developed amnesia before one of his robots rescued me..."
"And you really believe that?"
"I thought I told you to drop it, blue hedgehog..."
"I guess you wanna believe him 'cause he's the cousin of your friend... what's her name again? Madonna? Sally? Sara? Elise?" As Sonic was saying this, Shadow's temper was reaching boiling point... when he eventually grabbed Sonic by the chest and shoved him into the road, creating a large crack in the path as a Chaos Spear appeared in his other hand.
"MARIA!" He screamed right in Sonic's face. "Her name was Maria. And if you forget it again, I will hunt you down..." Little did Shadow know that Sonic had him right where he wanted him... and he fell victim to a Spin Dash!
"..and you fell for it, hook, line and sinker. I'll be back when I've got TWO Energy Cores!" Sonic Boosted away from Shadow, allowing his anger to grow once more...
About a minute later, Sonic managed to absorb an Energy Core before a second one appeared, but that's when Shadow Boosted right through Sonic and grabbed it!
"This is personal now, Sonic..." Shadow warned the blue hedgehog through his teeth, as a third Energy Core appeared ahead of them, which Sonic Boosted towards... but Shadow simply used Chaos Control to warp up to it in order to absorb it. "And with these Energy Cores flowing through me, I will do what the Doctor never could! Chaos CONTROL!" As he floated in the air above Sonic and slowed down time, Shadow threw Chaos Spears all over the path ahead of the blue hedgehog. While Sonic managed to avoid the Chaos Spears on the ground with his Quick Step, Shadow used Chaos Control to warp around Sonic and managed to hit him with a single Chaos Spear. "Chaos..." As Shadow shouted, he began building up energy in his hands as Sonic looked at him with anger in his eyes. "...LANCE!" Sonic attempted to Quick Step in order to avoid the attack, but the resulting explosion gave Sonic a literal shock as the time-flow returned to normal.
"Dang... you really did a number on me this time, Shadow..." Sonic pointed out as he caught up to the black hedgehog while another Energy Core appeared ahead of them. Sonic also noticed how Shadow's attack seemed to attract nearby asteroids. "But this is still nothing compared to how I'm gonna finish you!" With those words, Sonic Boosted towards the Energy Core, evading what Chaos Spears Shadow threw at him, and he managed to absorb the Energy Core. "Chaos CONTROL!" When Sonic started Boosting, his Boost aura was now purple instead of light-blue as he begun charging through the incoming asteroids. After Sonic Boosted through the asteroids, they all seemed to target Shadow, who was trying to Boost to escape. "Game over, Shadow!" Mere seconds later, Sonic rammed right through Shadow, causing him to fly up and come crashing back down!
"Ngh, ugh! Maria..." Shadow muttered before falling unconscious.
Once Shadow came to, he found Sonic standing above him, with a portal behind him.
"Now that I've knocked the anger out of you, you wanna explain what's goin' on here?" Sonic asked him as he helped him up.
"I told you before, Sonic. I don't know." He responded as he limped towards the portal. "But what I do know is that whoever or whatever did this has a power not unlike Chaos Control. In fact, that power feels eerily familiar to me, and I don't know why..." After Sonic helped Shadow through the portal, they both heard a roar that got their attention...
"THAT look familiar to you?" Sonic asked.
"No... but it feels familiar to me..." Shadow replied as they stared at a large lizard-like creature with a life-support system on its back...
END OF CHAPTER