Chapter 7: House Call
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The sun was sinking ever so lower to the what Silver guessed was the west, and he felt that sleeping or wondering in a desert was not a good way to spend the night. He hadn't seen very many animals, and he blamed the hot sun for it, but he figured they'd come out and he wasn't sure he wanted to meet them.

Suddenly, Silver stopped. He thought he heard something. His companions, a pink hedgehog, a droopy-eared rabbit and a blue chao stopped as well.

"Silver, what's wrong?"

"Shh!" Silver hissed, hoping inside that he didn't sound too mean. If he did, the girls didn't appear the least bit offended.

Cream's voice dropped to a whisper. "What is it, Mr. Silver?"

"I hear something, and it's coming closer."

All ears perked to listen. Indeed, there was a high-pitched hissing noise, constant and unchanging, coming towards them at a steady speed. By the sound of it, there were more then one.

Amy spoke first. "It sounds like robots, and a lot of them too."

"Robots?" Silver had never seen one before, but have heard of them.

"Amy, look!" Cream pointed upwards, and both hedgehogs and one chao looked up, following Cream's gaze. In the air was a two-tailed fox, his two-tails a blur in helicopter flight. In the early-evening sky, he was almost invisible thanks to his orange-ish color.

"It's Tails!" Amy said, and then called out. "Tails! Down here!"

The fox must've heard her as she looked down towards them, and started drifting down towards them. Silver was amazed; he never saw a two-tailed fox before and thought it was cool. The fox landed nearby, and looked as if he was in a hurry. "Amy! We've got to get out of here!"

Amy's eyes widened. "What's wrong!?"

"No time! I'm being followed by--"

"Freeze! You're under arrest!" said the harshest, most monotone voice Silver had ever heard.

The fox called Tails leapt a foot in the air and turned around. Everyone else looked and saw that they were being surrounded by grey and black robots, each one marking the small with a right-arm which was a modified machine gun. Tails made the look as if he was surprised they were that close.

"Dr. Kintobor requests you do not resist."

Silver blanched. Dr. Kintobor?

Tails knew that he could take on these robots, but he couldn't protect the girls at the same time! He wished his EMP didn't run out of charge. Amy bristled in indignation at the robot's demands, and whipped out a hammer with a head that was bigger them Amy's head. "You robot creeps can just go back to where you came from and tell Dr. Kintobor to leave us alone!"

Silver watched as Amy brought down her hammer on the robot's small head, smashing it in and out of commission.

"Amy! No!" Tails cried out in dismay. That was a dumb move.

Amy soon saw the folly in this herself as the other robots advanced.

Silver knew he had to act quickly, and in the half-second he had, he charged up his psychokinesis into his hand and smashed it into the ground. Almost like magic, the robots were frozen with an invisible force. Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese stood in a horrific awe as they saw that they had frozen and covered in a blanket of blue-green light. Silver lifted one hand, palm bared, towards the robot; his hand glowing hotly. The other hand curled into a fist and Silver drew it back, it too began to glow hotly. "Leave...us...alone!" Silver cried, swinging his fist forward, opening it as it swung. The robots were thrown away like they were smacked by giant hands, scattering and splintering apart, and crashing to the ground with a glorious crash. Silver had to admit; that was entertaining.

He looked back and saw that all eyes were on him. Feeling awkward all the sudden, his throat locked and he couldn't speak anything. What were they looking at?

Amy finally found her voice. "Silver? Did you just do what I thought you did?"

"Huh?" Silver thought that was a strange question.

Tails spoke next in a stunned whisper, "Who is this guy?" He was asking everyone else but Silver.

Silver grew more uncomfortable at him being in the spotlight and was ready to fly away just to get away from them.

"Guys? Would you stop looking at me like that?" Silver finally said, as a fresh tint of red creeping along his face.

All of the others, suddenly realizing they must be looking really stupid, snapped out of their stupor. "Sorry about that, Silver," Amy said. "We...just never seen that before."

"Seen what?"

"The way you threw away those robots!" Cream said. "Was that magic?"

Silver finally understood. They never saw someone do psychokinesis before and it was shocking, almost like he was shocked at the beauty of this world when he went back in time.

"Oh, that was psychokinesis. I can throw things without actually touching them."

"A psychokinetic?" Tails said. "Whoa, that's a cool ability! Were you born with it or did someone teach you how to do that?"

"I was born with it." Silver decided to change the subject. "Why were those robots chasing you, Tails?"

Tails sobered a bit, then replied. "I was actually distracting the robots away from Sonic and the Princess we just rescued.

"Princess?" Amy asked. "Sonic saved a Princess?"

"Yeah! She was being held by Dr. Kintobor in those ruins way over there..." Tails pointed behind himself a ways. "...and to keep them from attacking Sonic and Elise, I flew away so they would follow me. I think they were also after this." The fox held up a silver talisman with a red glowing stone in it.

"Wow, what is it?" Amy asked.

"It's so pretty..." Cream said.

"It's some kind of talisman, but Sonic thinks that the stone is a Chaos Emerald!"

"What?" Amy exclaimed.

"How did it get in there?" Cream asked.

"What's a Chaos Emerald?" Silver asked. He found that he was the only one who didn't know what Tails was talking about.

Tails cleared his throat. "Sorry, Silver. I didn't mean to leave you out. Chaos Emeralds are really powerful jewels; they have a lot of powers like to stop time, teleport and so many others. If you have all seven, you can become super-powered. Sonic has done that and it's amazing what he can do."

"Wow." Silver wanted to see just what that looked like. "Is this one of them?"

"I don't know, but it looks like one. However, they were never trapped in a talisman. I could test it, but I don't have my Chaos-energy tracker to find out."

Silver looked at the fox. This fox couldn't have been much younger then he was, but he looked like he was a very sharp tack about things. Was he born that smart or did he just learn fast?

Tails suddenly looked skywards and saw that the sun was setting quickly. "Whoa, it's going to get dark soon! We'd better get going! By the way, Amy. What are you doing out here?"

"I knew Sonic was out here! Why else would I be running through a desert?"

Tails blinked. "How did you know?"

Amy smiled smugly. "Call it women's intuition."

Tails gave Amy a strange look, as if he didn't really believe her. He looked at Silver as if asking if he had any idea. Silver shrugged.

"And as soon as I find Sonic, I'm going to help find the person Silver here is looking for!" Amy gave Silver a look as if she knew something and smiled, which caused the white hedgehog to squirm. Cream gave a giggle and hid her face behind one of her ears. Cheese settled on Cream's head and was trying to keep from giggling like her mistress. Tails felt something was amiss.

"Um, okay. Maybe we should just get going now," Tails said.

Silver was happy with the change of subject. It seemed to him that the girls liked embarrassing him in front of strangers, and he didn't even know why.

"Ok, we came from that direction." Amy pointed behind her. "We came here straight from Soleanna. We can just go back there, right? You can lead the way Tails, since that thing glows." Amy then pointed at the talisman in Tails' hand.

"Sounds good to me. Sonic should double-back that way once he feels the coast is clear."

"Good; I want to know if he's okay and where are we."

"He's fine, but I have no idea where we are. I don't think were on our planet at all. I only saw one moon last night."

"Earth has one moon, right?"

"I think so. We could be there." Tails eyed the sky again. "We'd better get moving before it gets too dark."

Tails led the way, holding the talisman like a torch with a burning light. Amy followed with Cream and Cheese behind. Silver followed last with a confused expression on their face. Their planet? Earth? What in the world were they talking about? It just all too confusing!

- - - - -

Night had settled over the grassy plains, and all the creatures of the day went into slumber, and it was a peaceful, moonlit night. The moon was rising to reign over the night and over its sleeping subjects. Tonight it was blessed with enough light to shed over the landscape with a bright astonishing radiance. Only two creatures were still stirring through the night: a blue hedgehog in red shoes who in the night looked black, and a human girl in royal garb. The hedgehog was running at high speeds through the bright moonlit night, and was thankful that it was smooth landscaping and a full moon. The air was crisp and cool; it kept the hedgehog energized. He was carrying the human girl in his arms and seemed focused on getting her home regardless of any fatigue or obstacle.

He slowed to a jog and to a walk. He peered at the girl who was sleeping, but was waking up, awaking from the stop.

"You okay, Elise?" the hedgehog asked.

The girl looked up at her escort. "Yes, I'm fine. Did we stop, Sonic?"

"Yeah, if any robots were following us; they're long gone." The hedgehog glanced back.

"Ok, can I stand up?" Elise asked.

"Sure, if you want."

Sonic put Elise down and she climbed to her feet. She looked around at the grassy plains bathed in moonlight. "We're in the plains? You must've been running a long time. Aren't you tired?"

Sonic smiled. "Just a tad, but I can run for a very long time. If we kept going by the time I'd get too tired, we'd probably be back at Soleanna and I'd just done fifty laps around it."

Elise chuckled, and smiled back. "I want to thank you so much for all your help." She brushed a forelock of her auburn hair back."

"You're welcome. It's what I do best." Sonic shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

Elise was looking at Sonic, and when she shrugged, she noticed something wrong. A closer look found that Sonic had a nasty slice on his left arm just below the shoulder, like he narrowly escaped having his arm sliced off by a knife-wielding assassin. Had she carried her that far while still bearing that? "Sonic, you're hurt!"

Sonic looked up and followed Elise's gaze to his arm. Sure enough, there was a wound there, still pretty red but the bleeding had stopped. He must've gotten it fighting the Cerberus when he was flung across the arena into the wall. "Oh, that? Yeah. I've had much worse that that little scrape. It's nothing..." Sonic covered the wound up with his hand to spare Elise from having to look at it.

"Don't say that!" Elise cried out, eyes full of compassion. She sank to her knees beside Sonic. "I'm surprised that you were able to take that much pain while carrying me." She paused for a second, then reached down for the bottom hem of her royal dress and proceeded to tear off a sizeable piece.

"No, really, it doesn't hurt that--" but Sonic cut himself off as Elise tore off an eight-inch piece of her dress hem and proceeded to wrap it around Sonic's arm to act as a makeshift bandage. Sonic turned his head, trying to hide the tint of red that was appearing on his face, thankful it was dark. No one really took this much personal attention to Sonic before, except his closest friends, but even then, this was forward.

"I'm sorry, Sonic..."

Sonic turned back, just in time to see Elise tie the last knot in the bandage, covering the wound cleanly and nicely. She still had her hands against it though, and looked tired for an unknown cause.

"It's all my fault. IT was for my sake you got hurt. I'm so sorry..." Elise looked down, saddened at that prospect.

"Hey, it's okay. Smile." Sonic snuck the hand on his injured arm beneath Elsie's chin and lifted her head up to meet his eyes. "Don't be sad," Sonic said, shaking a finger with his free hand, almost as if he was talking to a kid.

A flash of wings in the night attracted both the hedgehog's and the human's attentions, and saw a fluttering moth, with green flashing wings, green as mint. It flew around their heads before coming to a perch at the end of Sonic's nose. The Luna moth continued to sit there, staring at Sonic curiously. Elise had heard of Luna moths, but never actually seen one, and she smiled at the fact they were much prettier then the dull-colored moths that fly around the lamps of Soleanna. She felt her spirits rise in the presence of such nightly beauty.

Sonic's nose wasn't so welcoming, and the small feet irritated it so that it made the hedgehog sneeze. The moth left her perch and flew around their heads one or two more times and then took off into the night. Both Sonic and Elise watched it go.

Sonic looked back at Elise to see her smiling. "See? It's all okay. Seeing you happy is all I need to know that it's all cool."

Elise looked back, and she saw that Sonic was smiling too. "Do you want to walk for a while?"

Sonic shrugged. "Sure, if you want to."

Elise climbed back on her feet and both walked through the tall grass. Both by degrees noticed how beautiful the place was at night. The cloudless night and cool air made it feel very relaxing.

"Sonic?" Elise began.

"Yeah?"

"You've said you've been through much worse. Do you fight battles a lot?"

"Off and on, yeah. Back where I'm from, there was this guy I like to call Eggman who's always has this dumb idea on how to take over the world, but I give him a good butt-kicking every time. He never learns though. I think I've been kicking his butt for ten years."

"Ten years?"

"Yeah, kind of. It takes him a bit to recover, so in between I travel all around the world seeing the sites. If there's trouble, I know it. I kind of have a knack for it."

Elise couldn't help it. "Or do you bring trouble with you."

Sonic laughed. "Some have phrased it that way, yeah..."

"This 'Eggman,' what did he do to make you fight?"

"He attacked my home with his dumbots. I wasn't about to sit back and let him have what he wanted. I blew up his base in Robotropolis. He wasn't done though, and he had this space station that he called the Death Egg. That was when I met Tails. He helped me get on board and I found out Eggman built a robot clone of myself, called Silver Sonic. You thought that scrape was bad, oh buy, Silver-Sonic nearly had me, but I was too fast for him. He took a bit of me with him though."

"My goodness!"

"I made the Death Egg crash, but me and Tails went after it to put it out of our misery. We met our friend, Knuckles, a real hothead but a good guy deep down. He didn't like us but when Eggman stole his Master Emerald, he joined our side and helped me take Eggman down again. I still owe him for that. I also met Metal-Sonic, who was ten times worse then Silver-Sonic. He left more scars on me then anything I've ever met, even giant robots. Nowadays, he's chilled out. I'm sure he still doesn't like me very much, but he converted himself somehow so we're cool with it."

"Robots can do that?"

"Mecha could. Oh, Metal-Sonic likes to be called Mecha. Not sure how he did it; only one who'd know I'd talk to about it is Tails. He's knows so much about mechanics, he could write a mechanic's encyclopedia, and he's just a kid! I wonder if his parents ever knew he was a genius..."

Sonic kept the conversation going like a campfire. He talked about his adventures to Flicky Island, the fight with Perfect Chaos, meeting Shadow and stopping an entire space station from smashing into the earth, racing the Babylon Rogues twice, a hardcore fight with a monster from the Mystic Ruins into the Black Mountain Range with a human bounty hunter named Viper, blowing up the Egg Fleet and fighting Metal Overlord, fighting a new robot called Robo-Knux and later a race of aliens that were out to destroy the world.

"You've really had a lot of adventures, Sonic."

"Yeah. Life's never too slow to sit around, I always say."

They walked on through the night in a brief silence. Sonic thought about asking Elise about what this Dr. Kintobor person was after, but again wondered if Elise was up to it. It couldn't hurt to ask, right?

"Elise?"

"Yes, Sonic?"

"Dr. Kintobor mentioned the..." Sonic paused to remember it. "...the Flames of Disaster. What is that, anyway? Do you know anything about it?" He didn't expect an answer, but Elise answered right away.

"Yes, I do. The sun god that I and my people serve is named Solaris. He is a good god, casting eternal blessings upon us, which is why we hold the annual Festival of the Sun in his honor. We do our best to please him, for his rage would come consume us in the Flames of Disaster."

Sonic didn't really care for religious dogma, but it was apparently serious enough for a scientist to go after, therefore, there must be some truth behind it. "So, Kintobor is trying to tick off Solaris? I don't really see how that would do anything."

"I'm not sure why he wants to do it either, but I don't want it to happen again."

"Again? It happened before?"

"Almost yes, ten years ago. I was just a child then, so I don't remember much about it. My father..." Elise paused, stopping in her tracks as if she was struggling to continue. "...my father died when it happened. Someone came and calmed Solaris down somehow. I never met him afterwards."

Sonic had taken four or five steps further when he realized he was leaving Elise behind. He looked back and saw Elise with a pained expression on her face, mixed with past sadness and future worry.

"And now that madman Kintobor is trying to cause the same disaster again. What can I do?"

Sonic put his hands on his hips. Elise was distraught and needed help on the double. Striding forward, he snatched one of Elise's hands and began pulling her.

"Sonic!?" Elise snapped out of her mindset at this sudden act.

"Come on!" Sonic was grinning like a chimp and was starting to jog.

"Sonic, wait! I can't run nearly as fast as you!"

"Sure you can! I taught Tails how! Just lift up your head and run!" Sonic jerked Elise's hand forward. "C'mon, you can do it!"

Elise was stumbling behind, but Sonic kept pulling her back up with a lightning-quick jerk of her arm. Sonic felt like he was 12 all over again, teaching Tails how to run super-fast, and was laughing; not at Elise, but with Elise. Elise soon found herself laughing as she ran faster then she ever has before, thanks to Sonic.

"Wow! This is really fast!"

"Yeah, and I love it! See, you're doing it! Great jo--WHOA!!"

Sonic's foot caught on something hidden in the grass. At their speeds, there was no way to keep the balance after so upsetting it, and he spilled. He was still grasping Elise's hand and the jerk made him let go, but not before dragging down Elise with him. The two somersaulted and rolled to a stop several feet away from the offending snare and lay haphazardly in the grass.

"Sonic! What happened?" Elise gasped, for some of the wind was taken from her.

"I think I tripped over a gopher hole." Sonic got up, shook himself out and he started laughing and hooting like he just got off the fastest and scariest roller coaster in the world. "Wow! That was fun! Felt good, didn't it?"

Elise picked her rumpled self up to a sitting position, and found herself on the verge of laughing herself, but he was still somewhat winded. "Yes...wow, I never ran that fast before." Elise gasped.

Sonic got up on his feet. "Nothing actually starts unless you actually do it. Worrying is a waste of time. Take it from me, Elise. If you've got time to worry, you've got loads of time to get up and run like the wind."

Elise looked at Sonic. That made sense; worrying won't get anything done.

"I understand Sonic." Elise said, a smile still on her face.

Sonic flashed a thumbs-up. Everything was cool. He took Elise's hand and helped her back up onto her feet. Both then walked off into the night towards the sleeping town of Soleanna, talking and laughing, the stress of the day leaving them completely.

- - - - -

Far to the north, events were about dictate a night far different from the peaceful grassy meadow Sonic and Elise were traversing without care. In the snowy White Mountains, the White Acropolis stood as a grim fortress over the frozen wasteland around, and with it a promise of complete protection from any attacking force, for the wasteland was quite possible one of the worst places for an assault. Marching in front of the front gates were twenty to thirty battle-droids, armed with a machine-gun in one arm, a rocket launcher in the other and a one-eyed glare. They were built to withstand an invading force...or so their creator believed.

They would be tested very soon. An emergency was broadcasted through their network. Two targets were heading towards the front gates at high speeds, ETA two minutes, fifty-two seconds. Battle-stations! Sirens wailed through the frozen air, calling for all units to prepare for battle and receive further instructions.

By two minutes, the outer ranks were in formation and awaiting the assault. There was no program for fear; they were programmed just to attack the enemy. No questions. Two-and-a-half minutes past. The ranks stood firm. Two minutes, forty-five seconds. The droids armed their guns and rockets. It was almost time. Two minutes and fifty-five seconds. Unidentified assailant detected. Begin attack. The drones shot their machine guns at an incoming creature, but this creature did not back down and showed unforeseen speed and reflexes. It curled into a spin and smashed into the first droid in its path, smashing it in like tin. Bouncing up on the rebound, it uncoiled and it coiled its right hand into a fist.

"Chaos SPEAR!!"

It threw his hand forward as if it was throwing a tennis ball. With a flash of lightning sparks, out flew bolts of energy. It rained down on the robots like a storm, completely destroying the ranks of robots as if they were chess pieces.

Shadow landed on his feet amidst the smoldering gateway. Completely ignoring the smell if burning metal and oil, he was sizing up the gate to see if a Chaos Spear would destroy it, and deciding it would not. A few seconds later, a flash of headlights got his attention. A jeep going eighty charged into the fray and spun to a stop in the snow. Out jumped a human dressed in black and his yellow eyes seemed to glow in the dark of night. He regarded Shadow for a second, then reached into the back seat of the jeep and started taking out various weapons, holstering them onto his back and legs.

"Hmm, looks like I'm late to the party," Viper said quietly.

Shadow did not reply, and then returned to scoping the door for weaknesses. "Viper, do we have anything to break this door open?"

Viper looked up at the door as if he thought about it for the first time. After holstering the last of his weapons, he strode up to the large iron gate. Looking it over, his eyes settled on a row of large latches intersecting each other in the center of the metal door. He idly wondered how thick the door was, and tested it out by whipping out his lightsaber from his belt and running the amaranth-colored blade through the door. It cut through the metal like silk, and once Viper made a distinct sized hole, he peered through.

"It's too thick to slice a hole through." Viper looked back at Shadow. "Think you can Relocate to at least the top of the gate? No weapon we have can punch a good hole through the gate."

Shadow nodded. He looked at the talisman in his hand with a green stone glowing fiercely in the night. Shadow strode forward and touched Viper's arm. "Chaos Relocate!"

They reappeared at the top of the gate, and looking down, they saw hundreds of robots in formation, waiting for the assailants at the gate to come in. To the unpracticed eye, they looked invincible, but to Viper and Shadow, both experts in combat situations, were not impressed.

"They were just waiting for us to break in then blast us into ashes. Clever, but also pathetically simple."

Shadow didn't answer, but continued to glare down at the ranks of robots like a hawk watching a sparrow. "What do you say to showing them who they are messing with?"

Viper's yellow eyes met Shadow's red ones. Shadow was challenging him to a body count race. Whoever got the highest count at the end of a skirmish wins.

"May the best man win, then..."

One second they were on the gate sizing up their targets, the next, they dove into the order of robots and unleashed a perfect bedlam.

Shadow pounced on the robots in a ball of spines, smashing the armor and limbs of each one he rammed. Viper was not as quick on his feet, but made up for it in firepower. Viper could swing a two-handed sword in one hand as if it was a quarterstaff. The sword he currently was using was also tampered with adamantite lining to make it virtually unbreakable. His strength combined with the nature of his blade made short work of the foes he encountered. The human bounty hunter, to make things interesting, would often switch from swordplay to gunplay. He soon found that even the heavier-armored robots had weak armor around the "waist" area, and a shotgun blast would make short work of the internal circuitry.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow launched his rain of lightning bolts from the sky, obliterating large numbers of robots in one strike. "Ha! There's no strength in numbers!"

Viper shot one round of shot into one drone, swung the gun around smashing a second while cocking it in the same move, and sent a third flying with a rapid roundhouse kick. "Ready for the junkyard."

In less then two minutes, the entire gate-yard was a mess of sparking robot parts. Viper and Shadow stood in the middle of the courtyard, blinking in the spotlights that were tracking their movements, but both stood still, daring more to come.

"89," Viper finally said.

"We are even." Shadow panted. He enjoyed games like this.

"For how long?" Viper said, loading fresh shot pellets then punctuating his question with a cock from his gun.

Both the human and the hedgehog eyed a second gate ahead. There was no need to any anything else. It was time for round two.

Deeper in the base, Metal-Sonic was guarding a door, watching for any enemy robots. He had heard the alarms blare a warning of intruders and at first thought it was them, but listening further dictated that the intruders were breaking into the base. Further alarms blared the warnings, "Intruders have breached Gates 1 and 2. Apprehend if possible. Terminate if unable." Metal-Sonic could only guess who the intruders were, but had a good idea who. The Gate 1 was breached, and then Gate 2 was breached nearly three minutes later. Shadow could blow through a base with no problem, and Viper wasn't a slouch either. They probably decided to make a house call, paying the doctor a visit.

Metal-Sonic smiled, enjoying his facial expressions for the thousandth time. It was such a shame the doctor wasn't here at this time.

"Oh, Mecha?" A female voice drifted from the door, almost seductively.

"What is it, Rouge?"

"I found the Talisman of Darkness, but do you mind stepping in here and telling me what this could possibly be?"

Mecha sighed. He spent most of his time envisioning himself sinking his claws into Rouge just to shut her up. That would be irrational and just plain stupid, he told himself, but still enjoyed the prospect. Stepping in, he espied Rouge, holding a silver talisman with its wings wrapped around a stone black as a starless night, standing in front of a window in the room. Instead of looking outside, it looked down into a white cylindrical room. The walls were lined with insulated wire and decorative markings. The floor had a risen circular center, surrounded by eight pillars, only about three feet high and had a slot on the top.

Mecha's scans could not pick up anything remarkable, but the entire layout reminded him of the roboticizer of Robotropolis, where he himself had led countless prisoners to be roboticized. "My scans cannot pick up enough information regarding its function. If the Talisman of Darkness was in this room, it might be logical to assume that the machine is for Project Solaris."

"Now if we only knew what Project Solaris was all about," Rouge said.

"Indeed, plus why this Dr. Kintobor is so interested in the project in the first place." Mecha gazed at the Talisman of Darkness, and a sick wave of nostalgia smacked him cold. Robot though he was, he was a bio-android, showing both organic and robotic properties. Over a year before, he was able to acquire a Chaos Aura through devious means, and he could feel the power within Chaos Emeralds. He gazed at the jewel wrapped inside the talisman. No...it couldn't be...

The android shook himself out of this mindset and looked at Rouge. "I suggest we evacuate this base. There is a break-in in progress by likely either Shadow or Viper...or maybe even both. I am confident it's either of them. We should rendezvous with them and then vacate to Soleanna. There we may find information about Project Solaris."

"Sounds good to me; I need to take this to the Royal Investigations Bureau. They are expecting this back."

"Affirmative. I shall contact Shadow and Viper to let them know we will be coming. Let us depart."

"Ladies first," Rouge said, walking past Mecha, but not without batting her eyes and smiling at Mecha.

Mecha glared at her back and the impulse to rip her wings out of her shoulder. Suppressing it, he followed Rouge out, and shifted his energy to cursing Rouge behind her back.

Back outside, Viper's count soared well over three hundred now, as well as did Shadow's. Both were almost as equally effective at slaughtering mass numbers of enemies as his counterpart. Back on Möbius, Shadow and Viper amused themselves by wiping out numbers of the traugan population in the Northern Black Mountains. Viper at first did that himself to keep their population from getting too large so that they wouldn't leave the mountains, but when Shadow came along, they both started doing it for sport, keeping themselves battle-ready, keeping the traugan population at bay and seeing who was better that day. Sometimes Viper won, sometimes Shadow won.

They had reached the center courtyard, expecting more resistance, but to their disappointment found the arena-like courtyard deserted, and both rested against a pillar some ways inside the circumference of the arena. Shadow just crossed his arms and stared at his surroundings, while Viper polished his weaponry.

Viper's and Shadow's communicators buzzed and both answered. "Yeah?" Viper spoke. Shadow kept silent to see if it was the same person.

"This is Mecha," came the voice through both communicators. "I assume that both you and Shadow have broken into Dr. Kintobor's base."

"Very perceptive."

"Indeed. Rouge and I are leaving the base. We have acquired the Talisman of Darkness. My scans have shown that Dr. Kintobor is not currently in this base."

Viper and Shadow weren't sure they should be thankful or disappointed. "Very good, Mecha. When you entered the base, by chance did you traverse an arena-like courtyard with four sets of large doors?"

"Affirmative."

"We're there now. We'll wait for you here."

Several minutes later, Viper and Shadow, both barely moving from where they waited, observed a light from a jet coming their way. Close by to it was a spec of purple, reflecting the jet. The jet had to be Metal-Sonic.

Mecha and Rouge came to a landing several feet from Viper and Shadow and walked the rest of the way.

Rouge spoke first. "Why, hello, you two. Did you miss me?"

Viper had no reservations. "Not in the least."

Shadow spoke first. "You have the Talisman of Darkness?"

"What, this?" The bat held up the silver talisman with the black stone in it. It looked even darker outside. "Yes. Isn't it pretty?"

Mecha rolled his eyes, and Viper sighed. Shadow just made a sound like a "hmph."

Rouge crossed her arms. "That's the problem with you men; you can't appreciate the beautiful things."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there cane the loudest snarl that any of them has heard. Both looked around in surprise to find where it came from. They didn't wait long, for a large red-and-black robot bounded over the side gates and let out a wolf-like snarl. It had found the intruders.

Viper leapt to his feet, as did Shadow. Metal-Sonic scanned the new arrival.

"That is the EG-2000, code-named the Fenrir."

"Fitting name," Viper said, looking over its vulpine appearance.

The EG-Fenrir was the older brother of the EG-Cerberus, but less advanced as the Cerberus. Structurally, it was the same as the Cerberus, except with only one head instead of three, complete with one glowing eye and fifty sharp teeth of industrial-grade diamond-edged steel. It spotted the four and charged full speed.

"Scatter!" Shadow shouted.

The four scattered like cockroaches in a lighted room, just as the Fenrir pounced on where they are. Shadow skated around the arena, trying to get an idea on where to strike the giant robot. Metal-Sonic was doing the same, but in the air. Rouge fluttered a safe distance, no desire to come close to such a large robot. Viper hid among the pillars, trying to calculate the best approach.

Shadow flew into the face of the Fenrir, fist drawn back. "Chaos Spear!" Shadow unleashed his lightning attack at the Fenrir, but it didn't do much good as the armor withstood, although charred. Metal-Sonic dove forward, the weapons in his arms rotating to the laser-rotating gun he had. His claws and hands turning into the chambers and revolver mechanism, he fired red laser bolts at the Fenrir's face. The armor withstood, and Mecha couldn't get the eye as the Fenrir wouldn't hold still long enough to get a good shot.

Viper got the idea that the head was the best place to strike, and that unicorn-like horn had to be something. He waited as the Fenrir past close by to his position, sniffing out its prey. Viper sprang out of hiding and let fly his Grapple Claw under his left arm. It hooked on the Fenrir's shoulder and using its pull, he shot up onto the shoulder. On its back, he could see the rails leading up to its head, towards the horn specifically. Without a second thought, he leapt at the horn and smashed his sword on it with a crack.

Wailing, the Fenrir thrashed its head about to get what attacked its head off. Viper bailed, using the thrashing of the head to give him extra velocity. He flew across the arena and skidded to a halt in a crouch.

"Everyone, the horn is a weakspot. Unleash all you got on it!"

Shadow heard this and darted forward and circled around the Fenrir, throwing another Chaos Spear at the robot's face to distract it. Reaching the tail, he found the rails that made up its tail. Not thinking twice, he dashed onto it and grinded between the shoulders and at the last second grabbed the horn. Just like its younger brother, the Fenrir went berserk. It stampeded around the room, making hair-pin turns at random. Shadow held firm, using the grooves in his shoes and anchors on the horn. Shadow rode on, wondering how to damage this thing while still retaining his balance, when he saw that he was approaching the wall at alarming speed.

"Chaos Control!"

Shadow teleported away and to the other side of the arena, and watched as the Fenrir rammed into the wall with a deafening crash. It rose sluggishly and proceeded around, shaken but still out to complete its objective to stop the invaders.

Metal-Sonic had observed the Fenrir's behavior when Shadow had grabbed onto the horn, and had watched with his scanners. "Everyone! The horn is the central command unit to the robot. Destroy that and it will lose its primary functionality."

No one had to answer back. All three, Metal-Sonic, Shadow and Viper, charged at once. Shadow leapt into the face and Chaos Speared the horn, causing the Fenrir to yowl. Its programming dictated a heavy swipe from his paws to drive off further attacks, and it complied. It swiped with its fore-paws at anything that moved. Shadow Chaos Controlled out of the way, and Mecha dashed aside.

Viper had the guts to stay and with enormous fervor and crying out, he swung his blade into the oncoming clawed paw. There was a terrible crash of steel against steel with a flash of sparks. The paw flew back, but the Fenrir retaliated with its other paw. "You really can't teach and old dog new tricks, can you?" Viper said, his eyes blazing from the rush of battle. He met this paw with the same bone-crushing amount of force he threw against the other, forcing it back. The Fenrir collapses forward as both paws collapses underneath him. Viper leapt back then leapt into the face and smashed his blade down onto the horn like a sledgehammer. Viper flung himself back as the metal-beast reared back and roared with agony. Shadow decided to finish it once and for all.

"Chaos Control!"

Shadow stopped time this time, and dashed past the frozen Viper and behind the Fenrir, frozen in its own agony. Grinding up the rails, he grasped the horn. "Timestart!"

The Fenrir went into a berserk of panic, and went around the room howling and snarling, smashing anything in its wake. Viper and Metal-Sonic kept their distance for there was no getting closer to the Fenrir now.

An idea came to Shadow. Could he steer the Fenrir to its doom? He grasped both hands onto the horn and planted both feet on the Fenrir's bucking head. Leaning back and forth, he found he could steer it some. Taking his plan into action, he steered the Cerberus towards the distant wall, but the Fenrir apparently still had some willpower, for it turned just as it crashed into the wall, smashing its side into the wall instead of its head.

Shadow grunted from the impact, but regained his sure footing. "Do as I tell you!" Shadow snarled. The bucking Fenrir was off again, and Shadow was in control. Barring his teeth in determination, he steered the Fenrir towards the wall again. The Fenrir isn't going to be so easy to kill. I must control it to the last second to ensure a hit to the head. Shadow fixed his stair against the wall and locked his legs for the strongest grip he could manage. He pushed the Fenrir on and when it was just a meter away from the wall, he teleported away. The plan worked. The Fenrir crashed into the wall and broke the horn off. When it limbered back up, it looked like something had put out its eyes. The malicious eye was dimmed, apparently non-functional.

"It's not destroyed yet!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Then let's finish it off!" Viper said.

"Affirmative!" Metal-Sonic said.

All three charged towards the crippled robot, unaware of his attackers coming. Shadow leapt into a ball of spine and struck at the eye, shattering it. Bouncing right off, he smashed into the shoulder at two tons per square inch of force, causing the Fenrir to buckle on the side. Mecha smashed into the neck and with his claws, reached in to slash apart the wires inside. Viper took out an object the size of a softball and leapt on the nose of the Fenrir. Touching a button on this object, it flashed on fire with blue light, and an oozy substance started to leak out. Quickly, he smashed the object into the shattered eye of the Fenrir. It stuck inside as glowed hotter.

"Get back everyone!" Viper leapt backwards, and Shadow and Mecha bailed to the side.

The Fenrir had time for one last roar of agony, when suddenly it's head blew off with a blue explosion. The explosion seemed to shatter the air and the body blew apart from the damage Mecha and Shadow had done. The EG-2000 Fenrir was no more.

Rouge fluttered down from her perch on top of the wall, safe from the battle but watched everything. Viper, Mecha and Shadow looked at the smoldering remains of the Fenrir.

"Now that the resistance is destroyed, I suggest we head south to Soleanna," Mecha stated.

"Agreed." Viper holstered his sword onto his back. "Let's go."

"That still only counts as one, human," Shadow said, implying their game was not over.

"As you wish, hedgehog," Viper said back.