ARC 3: Bio-Island
Chapter 4: Biolizard PT 1
So for the rest of the day, everything went by pretty smoothly, Thomas showed Blaze and Marine all around the island. Marine constantly asked so many questions and Sonic agreed to try and answer them all. Shade talked with Blaze who was staring out the window. The feline was smiling and seemingly in thought.
"So Blaze, how are you feeling?" Shade asked.
"I actually feel rather calm for once, like a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders, for now." Blaze said.
"I guess being a princess isn't all that easy for you usually?" Shade asked.
"Well...it's been awhile since Eggman Nega has attacked, mabye he's given up or something. But I must always be ready, I'm still wondering about those strange purple portals...we really need to find who's causing them." Blaze said.
"Hmm, whoever is doing it, might have some connection to the island. Or at least know about what happened last year...it's pretty scary, and usually I'm not afraid of anything." Shade said.
"EXCEPT THE BOOS!" Sonic called out.
Shade flipped him off before Thomas blew his whistle.
"Alright everyone, there's a little surprise waiting for Blaze at Tidmouth Sheds. Though I'm not sure if all the engines will be there, they're still some jobs left to do on the island." Thomas said.
"That's alright Thomas, but really, you guys didn't have to do this." Blaze blushed.
"No, no you deserve it." Sonic laughed.
"Oy he's right you know!" Marine agreed.
"Shade might encounter some of the boos!" Sonic teased.
"SONIC!" Shade growled.
When they arrived at Tidmouth Sheds, they found only Percy, Edward, Henry and Tails who had just arrived back. Sitting in front of Percy was a table with food and a cake. Thomas stopped next to the sheds to let them out.
"Here we are Blaze, I know it's not much, but still you deserve to celebrate!" Sonic guided her towards the cake.
Deep inside Blaze was overjoyed, she didn't get to celebrate her birthday as big as most kids would. Marine ran over and grabbed Tails in a hug.
"TAILS MATE! SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!" Marine yelled.
"Nice to see you too, but you're choking me!" Tails gagged.
"Sorry mate."
The four engines whistled.
"Happy Birthday Blaze!" They all cheered.
Blaze blushed some more and giggled. Sonic wrapped an arm around her.
"Go on Blaze, have a slice of cake..." Sonic said.
Of course he already stole the first piece but Blaze didn't care. Much to Shade's annoyance, some Boos did join the party, Henry had to show some restraint. An hour later, Sonic was surprised when Shadow warped behind him.
"Alright faker, enough stalling...it's about time we have our race." Shadow said.
"Ugh...why now? We're in the middle of a birthday party." Sonic said.
"Who's?"
Blaze came over wiping some cake from her mouth with a napkin.
"Evening Shadow." Blaze waved.
"Same to you princess...and uh..." Shadow felt uncomfortable.
"I understand, what brings you here?" Blaze asked.
"Challenging faker here to a race." Shadow smirked.
"Go on Sonic, we'll be waiting for you here." Tails came over.
"Right on, alright Shadow...try to keep up. Let's race through the main line." Sonic said.
Sonic took off breaking the sound barrier and Shadow skated close behind him.
"Those two will never change." Tails sighed.
"Maybe it's for the best." Blaze shrugged..
The two hedgehogs raced down the line constantly passing each other. They came to a level crossing where Bertie was just crossing over forcing the hedgehogs to jump right over the whole thing.
"You've been practicing." Shadow said.
"Hey, this place is great for practice. You should come here more often." Sonic offered.
"Hmph."
After rounding a few bends and passing a few engines, Sonic remembered something.
"Hey Shadow, have you seen any strange portals appearing anywhere, or at least places being destroyed?" Sonic asked.
"No...why?"
"Well some strange portal sucked Blaze in bringing her and some villains here, that and someone attacked Pumpkin Hill, King Boom Boo accused Knuckles.
"I guess that is strange, but I'm sure it's none of my business." Shadow said.
"Ugh...you know sometimes I could use your help or advice." Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Hah...why would I ever give you advice faker?"
"Good point."
The two eventually see Wellsworth Station up ahead and Sonic smirks.
"Last one to make it to the platform is a rotten hedgehog." Sonic boosted ahead.
"Ugh." Shadow groaned.
But before they could reach it, a large explosion at the station propelled them back and they crash to the ground. Something had exploded behind the station and a purple inferno. Luckily no one was hurt.
"Whoa...what was that?" Sonic wondered.
"Some kind of strong power may have caused that." Shadow figured.
Investigating, the two find nothing there, just a small crater where the explosion was made.
"This is getting strange, first portals, now explosions." Sonic said.
"Huh...I guess we need to figure this out." Shadow looked towards the sky.
Sonic smirked and turned to him.
"You and me huh? That doesn't happen often." Sonic chuckled.
"I'm going alone...I can feel some strange energy, the same that's coming from this crater. I would rather work with Rouge and Omega than you." Shadow crossed his arms.
"Typical faker talk. I bet you're still mad after how Big teased you. Huh come to think of it, I haven't seen the guy since we defeated King Boom Boo." Sonic scratched his head.
"Well don't think I'm going to look for him, you're on your own, we'll finish this race later." Shadow said.
Before Sonic could retort Shadow had warped away. Sonic left to search for Big who could be anywhere right now. Back at the sheds, The engines and mobians were talking and wondering where Sonic and Shadow had gone off to. Blaze knew she'd have to return back to her dimension but at least wanted to say goodbye to Sonic before she left. Tails was talking with Shade and Marine.
"Well I can say this was a success, though I wish Sonic would hurry and get back here." Tails said.
"You never know with those two these says." Shade shook her head.
"Oy, maybe we should go find them." Marine suggested.
"Nah, we'll probably fail to find them." Tails said.
"Hey I just remembered something...where's Big?" Shade asked.
"I haven't seen him, maybe went fishing somewhere." Tails thought.
Finally Sonic did arrive looking confused.
"Hey guys, have you noticed Big has been gone?" Sonic asked.
"We were just talking about that." Shade said.
"Hmm...oh hey Blaze I guess you got to for now?" Sonic figured.
Blaze came over eating the last slice of cake while Marine followed her.
"Yeah...I need to make sure everything is still in place back at the castle. Sonic...thank you for all of this. It's been nice to see you again." Blaze said.
"Same here Blaze." Sonic nodded.
The two shook hands before Blaze summoned the Sol Emeralds. Marine gave Sonic a quick tight hug before she and Blaze are warped back to their dimension. Just as they left...Thomas started to feel a strange sense.
"What's wrong Thomas?" Percy asked.
"Everyone noticed Thomas looked rather...troubled. He was frowning and his eyes were darting left and right.
"Uh...it's not a big deal." Thomas said.
Before anyone could say anything, Thomas uncoupled from Annie and Clarabel and raced off down the line. The engines look at each other and the mobians do the same.
"That was strange." Tails said.
"Huh, I wonder what's upsetting him?" Edward said.
"Maybe I should go check on him." Percy said.
"I'll go with you." Shade said.
So Shade hopped into Percy's cab and they set off to look for Thomas. Though it may have seem like a random location, Big had ventured towards an old pair of buffers at the end of a line...and was being trapped. In front of him was the strange crystalized figure from before. The figure had backed Big towards the buffers.
"Why are you trying to harm me?" Big whimpered.
"Because you are in the way of my goal. NOW STEP ASIDE!" The figure growled.
"No...you have Froggy! Give me back Froggy!" Big said.
"Hah...you're friend will be my hostage."
The figure had Froggy trapped in a small icy orb, though Froggy didn't seem to be uncomfortable. Big could not believe Froggy was trapped, he figured trying to use his lure as a weapon would be useless against this person. Though Big thought this figure looked familiar.
"Hey...you look like Shadow, but all icy." Big said.
Before the figure could answer, they heard quick chugging and looked to see an angry Thomas coming straight for them. Big ran to the side of Thomas and the figure just stared at the engine in surprise.
"You stay away from those buffers, they're very special. Who are you?" Thomas said.
"That's none of your concern." The figure said.
"You're a hedgehog, and you look like Shadow...only...made out of crystals?" Thomas figured.
"Hmph, you seem to care about these buffers specifically, what's so special about them? I could sense some strange energy behind them." The figure walked over to them.
Thomas knew what would happen if he got closer, so he was unable to stop him.
"STOP! I'LL NEVER TELL YOU!" Thomas sneered.
"Oh really, well I guess I'll have to find out myself. And this frog will have to perish!" The hedgehog evilly laughed.
"FROGGY!" Big yelled.
Just then Percy and Shade arrive, Shade immediately sees the hedgehog as a threat and runs towards him.
"YOU THERE! STOP!" Shade growled putting on her helmet.
"Thomas what's going on?" Percy asked.
"YOUR DESTRUCTION SOON, THAT'S FOR SURE!" The figure growled.
Shade went to slice at him with her leech blades but the figure floated into the air.
"Hehe foolish beings...I've been watching all the chaos that has happened since last year...and I seek to destroy what keeps this island afloat and crush your lives into dust! I assume these buffers have something to do with it huh? Well then, Thomas is it? I'll be studying you more for now, your friends however...won't be so lucky as you!" The crystalized hedgehog glared at Percy.
"You leave my friends alone!" Thomas wheeshed steam.
"Hah! You may have thwarted past villains, but you won't stop me." He said.
The figure hadn't noticed Big making his way behind him with his lire, and swung it catching the small orb that Froggy was inside of and caught him.
"I HAVE YOU FROGGY!" Big cheered.
"WHAT?" The figure looked at him.
Suddenly he's kicked in the face by a certain black hedgehog and onto the ground.
"SHADOW!" Everyone gasped.
"Hmph, guess you really did need my help for once Thomas." Shadow smirked.
The figure got up and got everyone's attention.
"UGH...I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH ALL OF YOU! YOU SHOULD BE MORE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS AT THE SHEDS!"
"What?"
Suddenly they heard a loud roar as a massive purple portal opened up in the sky above Tidmouth sheds, a large red and black lizard that was seemingly on life support fell from the sky surprising the engines and landed right onto the turntable destroying it. It's large tails swung around and destroyed the roof of the sheds. Sonic and Tails had been knocked away by the landing and were currently unconscious.
"What is that?" Shade asked.
"It's big!" Percy gasped.
"It's black and red like Shadow."
Everyone turned to Shadow who was gripping his head...some memory was coming back.
"No...it can't be..." Shadow gasped.
Everyone then notices the figure was gone.
"What is it Shadow?" Thomas asked.
"It's the prototype of...me...the Biolizard."
To be continued...