Chapter 15: Stealing the Emeralds
Meanwhile at Shadow's house, everyone was watching the news. They were shocked to see the report on about the GUN commander and President being killed, along with many other things that happened. A film clip showed the White House in flames and Washington D.C. completely destroyed. The Chaotix, Blaze, Shadow and Chris watched with horror as the news recounted what had happened that evening.
"This is horrible," Blaze said. "How could Sonic do something like this?"
Shadow sighed, putting his head between his hands. When the hedgehog looked up, he was very frustrated. He got up and paced around the room, finally standing in front of the television. Shadow glared at the crowd, looking angry.
"This is exactly why we need to stop Sonic!" he yelled. "He just killed the President of the United States and the GUN commander! Our country is now without a leader, and this is all over the news. Most likely people are panicking, which is exactly what Sonic wanted. There has been no sight of him since; most likely he is plotting something new. We need to stay on guard in case he tries to attack us again."
He opened the closet door and looked at the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald and the Sol Emeralds. They glowed brightly in unison. Shadow took out a red Chaos Emerald and sighed, deep in thought. He then put it back, closed the door, and sat down on the couch.
"Do you think Sonic will come after the emeralds?" Espio asked.
"Shadow nodded. "There's no doubt in my mind that he will. How soon, though, I cannot say. Mephiles wasn't with Sonic when he attacked the White House, so he still must be back at the base. Something tells me that he and Sonic were discussing the final plot but..."
A huge explosion interrupted him. He jumped up and rushed over to the window, looking out at the city. Fires had started and a massive cloud of smoke was engulfing the city. Blaze and Chris gasped as they saw what had happened.
"It's Sonic; it has to be!" Chris yelled. "Who else could cause such destruction?"
Shadow frowned. "Mephiles."
"What?"
"It's either Sonic or Mephiles that is doing this." He turned to the group. "Alright; here's what we'll do. Blaze and the Chaotix will come with me to confront whoever is doing this. Chris, you can stay here."
Chris blinked. "Why me?"
"I want you to protect the emeralds in case Sonic tries to steal them."
Chris nodded in understanding. He watched Shadow, Blaze and the Chaotix run out the front door, and sat down on the couch, watching the closet that held the emeralds.
The Chaotix, Blaze and Shadow ran downtown at top speed towards the source of the blast. When they got there, they stopped and looked around. Buildings and homes were destroyed completely and left in ruins. What bothered them, though, was that no one could be seen. Suddenly a loud laugh could be heard. They turned around and saw Mephiles appear behind them.
Shadow growled. "So, it was you who caused all this! What are you up to this time?"
Mephiles laughed. "What do you think? I'm causing destruction in the city. You've come to investigate, I assume?"
"What are you and Sonic planning?"
"If you want to know, you'll have to beat me!"
He vanished and reappeared behind Shadow, kicking him in the back. Shadow fell to the ground and then got back up, swinging a punch at Mephiles. The demonic hedgehog dodged the punch and circled around Shadow to where Blaze and the Chaotix were. Blaze threw fireballs at Mephiles, while Espio took out his shuriken. Both the fireballs and the shuriken hit Mephiles, causing him to growl in pain. He turned toward Blaze and Espio, sending a Chaos Lance towards them. They both dodged it and ran towards Mephiles, kicking and punching him fiercely. Mephiles could take no more and formed an energy ball in his hands, throwing it at the group. All of a sudden, Shadow appeared and held out his hands to stop the energy ball before throwing it back at Mephiles. The demonic hedgehog's eyes widened as he was hit. He screamed in pain as dark energy shocked his body before falling on the ground, breathing heavily. Shadow walked up to him, looking at Mephiles in hatred.
"Now tell us what Sonic is up to!" he demanded.
Mephiles started to laugh, which greatly surprised Shadow. "You fools; do you honestly think I was destroying the city just for fun? I was stalling you! You see, Sonic is on the way to your house to steal the emeralds. This was just a distraction I created to lure you away from there!"
Shadow's eyes widened. "Tell us what he will do with the Chaos Emeralds!"
"Don't tell me you didn't know. Here's a clue: it all takes place on the space colony ARK."
"No...it can't be!"
Mephiles just laughed. "Yes; he's going to fire the Eclipse Cannon. Pity you won't be able to stop him in time!"
Shadow yelled and started to run back to the house. The others followed him, hoping that they weren't too late.
Back at the house, Chris was still guarding the emeralds. He opened the closet and looked at them, amazed that they were glowing. Suddenly, the lights went out. Chris looked around and felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" he asked.
There was silence in the house, so he thought nothing of it. All of a sudden, he was hit on the head by something. He looked up and gasped to see the form of Sonic, who was hovering above him. Sonic grinned and grabbed the emeralds. A bright light shone from them, radiating with power. Some of the chaos energy hit Chris in the chest. He let out a loud scream of pain and fell to his knees. When he looked up, he saw that the emeralds had lost their color and were now black. Sonic chuckled and then vanished instantly. Suddenly, Sonic, Blaze and the Chaotix rushed into the house. They gasped when they saw Chris laying on the floor and the emeralds missing.
Shadow rushed over to Chris and shook him awake. "Chris, what happened? Where are the emeralds?"
Chris looked up at Shadow before responding weakly, "Sonic took the emeralds. They're gone."
Everyone let out a cry of surprise at what Chris said. The human looked at Shadow with fear in his eyes before he felt a stinging pain go through him. He fell to the floor and lost consciousness.