ZONE 3: STARLIGHT CITY
ACT 3: THIS CHAPTER WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY DEFUNCTLAND
Shadow didn't know how to feel about being compared to a dead guy. Especially when that dead guy was being remembered as a hero. "No one is mourning me," Shadow said. "I'm not dead."
"I know that," Sonic said. "And you know that. But what about everyone else?"
Shadow stared up at the bulletin board, at the blurry face of the hero. A strange feeling was curling in his gut. "We weren't born in that crater," he said. "Something led us there. Who we were before… what we left behind… it remains to be seen."
The feeling wasn't good, Shadow realized suddenly. It tasted bitter on his tongue. Melancholic.
Sonic looked over at him and frowned. The dark expression on Shadow's face made him reach out and set his hand on his shoulder. "Don't get too hung up on it," Sonic told him. "I'm with you 'til we figure it out."
Finally, Shadow turned away from the bulletin board. Its glow cast half of his face in darkness. "You don't seem all that concerned," Shadow observed.
"Should I be?" Sonic asked. He offered Shadow a small shrug. "Personally, I think my plate's already full."
It's not that the motobug's assistance had caused Shadow to forget about Sonic's broken leg. He remembered it. He just hadn't realized how much it was still bothering him. The injury took away a lot of the blue hedgehog's freedom–if Shadow was in his position, he would probably feel similarly occupied by its existence.
"I understand," Shadow said. Then, he paused. He thought about how Sonic had been looking out for him, even with his broken leg. Kicking G.U.N. soldiers in the face and sacrificing his own sleep just to make sure nothing could get to them in the dead of night. The pain he had endured for their sake was a testament to his willpower, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Shadow.
In that moment, Shadow's expression lost its darker edge. "I will support you, as well," he said.
Sonic smiled. It was small, but sincere. And it quickly grew into a three-thousand watt grin when he clapped Shadow on the back, saying, "Alright! How 'bout we swing by the park next? That's where one of those 'extra events' was supposed to be, anyway."
Shadow was about to respond, but was stopped prematurely by the bulletin board behind him suddenly flashing red. He turned back around to face it, and saw that the hero's face had disappeared, only to be replaced by a warning message.
There were signs of an infestation at the festival. All celebrations would be put on hold until the invaders could be exterminated.
The message was posted by G.U.N.
"Forget pest control," Sonic said, sounding irritated, "someone brought feds to the festival!"
Shadow caught sight of someone behind Sonic. The dark shape shifted, half-concealed by a parked car on the other side of the street. Then, the moonlight glinted off the tip of something metallic, and Shadow quickly grabbed Sonic's arm. He was going to pull him off the motobug and to the ground, but there wasn't time, he could already hear the barrel of what must have been a gun going off, and see the silver streak of a bullet tearing towards them.
They needed to move. They needed to be somewhere else, somewhere like–
The air crackled. Instantly, the two hedgehogs and their motobug companion vanished. The shot struck the bulletin board they had been standing in front of less than a second later, shattering the glass and sending volts of electricity coursing through the damaged screen. It promptly short circuited and flickered out, going dark.
Then, Shadow, Sonic, and the motobug reappeared in a flash of light at the park.
Shadow blinked. Sonic blinked. Even the motobug's eyes briefly pulsed, the surge of energy from Shadow's teleportation stunt running through it like a charge.
Shadow let go of Sonic's arm, his hand shaking slightly. The sudden output of Chaos Energy threatened to overwhelm him, but he forced down the bile rising in his throat, because he knew that they weren't safe yet. They had to run. Run away from the gunman, and the situation that was so horribly familiar to him.
The grim sense of deja vu held his heart in a vice, and the echoes in his mind grew louder, and louder, and louder. The jaunty music from the festival sounded like an alarm, ringing in his ears.
What he had said earlier was true; he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead, but… someone was. He just didn't know who.
Sonic's voice cut through Shadow's thoughts. "Party's over, Stripes," he said urgently. "It's time to go!"
The motobug beeped in agreement.
Shadow struggled to focus on them. He could hear the sounds of boots on pavement in the not-so-far-off distance. His eyes scanned the park, looking for a way out. All of the festival goers had disappeared, leaving only the decorations to fill the space in between the fountains and trees. That was when he saw it–the wooden stars adorning the entrance to a queue for a roller coaster on the other side of the park.
The roller roaster stretched far beyond the park, its tracks reaching up into the clouds and winding through the many skyscrapers of Starlight City.
Wordlessly, Shadow grabbed Sonic's arm again. Crossing the park would be too dangerous with gunmen crawling around like roaches, their bullets so much faster than them. He had to call upon that strange power again. He thought about the roller coaster cars. He thought about their glittery yellow paint, their wide leather seats.
And then he was there.
The motobug's eyes pulsed again, its circuits briefly filled with Chaos Energy, its artificial brain jarred.
Sonic handled the sudden shift in his surroundings a little better. He slid off the motobug's back and onto the seat of the roller coaster car. Then, he grabbed a purse that someone had dropped in their rush to heed G.U.N.'s warning and threw it at the control panel near the coaster's loading dock. It hit the big green button in the middle, and the roller coaster lurched to life.
When the coaster began to climb the lift hill, Sonic held the motobug in place on the floor of the car with his good leg. Then, he turned his attention towards Shadow. The dark hedgehog was still clutching his arm, and it was clear from the way he clenched his jaw–so tightly it was a wonder his teeth didn't crack–that something more than just the threat of being shot at was going through his mind right now.
"Phew! That was some light show," Sonic said. He was talking fast. "It sure came in handy. Hey–you got us out of there, y'know? Take a breath, man. It's no good if you start turnin' blue on me."
The higher the coaster climbed, the more distant the noise from the festival became. It wasn't long before Shadow couldn't hear the music or the boots or the alarms at all anymore. He could only hear Sonic's voice. Slowly, he loosened his grip around the blue hedgehog's arm. He took a breath.
"Apologies," Shadow said quietly. "I suppose not all memories will be pleasant."
Sonic was curious. "You remembered something?"
Shadow curled his hands around the car's guard rail. "I remembered… being afraid."
The nose of the roller coaster dipped down over the top of the lift hill. Gravity quickly took over, pulling the cars towards the ground, rocketing the coaster over the tracks at top speed. The ride continued through the city for a while, spinning around tall buildings and staying mercifully far away from the ground, where the two hedgehogs could see the tiny figures of soldiers combing the streets.
Shadow looked back over his shoulder at Sonic. He was still ignoring rider safety by standing up in the car. "Once the coaster reaches its highest point, it will begin its descent back to the station. We will need to make our exit then."
"You mean, jump?" Sonic asked, acutely aware of how terribly his last fall had ended up for him. He masked his nerves with enthusiasm. "I'm game. Let's give these military guys the slip for good!"
Unfortunately, G.U.N. chose that moment to cut the power. One by one, the lights on the ground went dark, until the entire city was pitch black. The lack of power caused the roller coaster's emergency brakes to activate, and the cars shuddered to a stop after a few blasts from the compressed air.
The motobug's glowing eyes stood out in the dark. But they weren't blue anymore–now, they were flashing red.
Sonic lifted the motobug onto the hood of the roller coaster car. Then, he climbed up onto its back and turned to Shadow. "Change of plans," he said, "we're ditching these guys the old fashioned way–on foot!"
Shadow and the motobug hopped down onto the tracks with Sonic in tow. The edge of the city was within sight, the highest point of the tracks just two swells and a curve around an office building away.
They started towards it immediately, mindful of the tracks' smooth metal surface. Sonic grabbed the motobug's antennas and bent forward like he was riding a motorcycle, leaning left and right as the motobug turned with the path of the tracks so he could keep his extra weight from throwing it off balance.
After clearing the two swells, Shadow faltered. Harnessing the power of Chaos Energy two times in a row was messing with his head, making it hard to see straight. He missed the centering of his next step by an inch, and his foot slipped on the smooth track. It looked like he was going to tumble off and fall to the ground far below.
That was, until Sonic snatched him, and pulled him onto the back of the motobug with him. "No time to pump the brakes," Sonic told him. "Just hold on tight! We'll make it!"
Shadow wrapped his arms around Sonic's waist and gritted his teeth against the pain building behind his eyes. He had to keep it together until they were out of the city. He couldn't let his body shut down on him like last time.
When the motobug began to ascend the final hill, the tracks started to rumble. Then, a spotlight suddenly flared to life on the ground, illuminating the sky before the soldiers manning it turned it towards the two hedgehogs and their robot companion. It shined in Sonic and Shadow's eyes, forcing them to squint against the bright white light.
Behind them, G.U.N. soldiers were in pursuit on the tracks. They were closing in.
But they were too slow. Sonic, Shadow, and the motobug had finally reached the very top of the track at the edge of the city. Shadow took a deep breath, preparing to warp them all to the ground, as far away from the city as he could, despite the toll it would inevitably take on him.
"DISTRESS SIGNAL LOCATED. SOURCE: PUNY FODDER MODEL."
A large black and red robot dropped down onto the tracks next to Sonic and Shadow. Its weight made the supports creak.
With its shiny red eyes, the large robot looked down at the two hedgehogs. It stared intently at Shadow.
"LOCAL CHAOS ANOMALY ALSO LOCATED," the robot said, its mechanical voice booming. "NEW OBJECTIVE: DEFEND TINY MEATBAGS FROM IMMINENT THREAT. WITH FIRE."