No Brotherly Love

Chapter 10: Forgotten Son

Sonics POV:

It'd been twelve hours since the debriefing. Of course, the fox lady wasn't happy, in fact, she said if I wasn't such a valuable team member, she'd have me put down. She has one hell of a charming attitude, huh?

I was now sitting in a chopper with Shadow and Metal, who was sitting at the mini-gun. We had been told that there was some sort of underground base, and the only way to it was through an old factory. The factory was only ten minutes from the base by helicopter, but why didn't they let us run there? I mean me, Shadow and Metal could get there in no time, so, why copter?

On the way here, I could see shadowy forms, but when I asked anyone if they saw them they looked at me as if I'm crazy, 'cept Shadow, he just ignored me. Typical.

"E.T.A ten seconds! Good luck boys!"Shouted the pilot. I gave my traditional thumbs, Metal nodded and Shadow, well, he was just Shadow.

I was going to go without a weapon when Metal threw a pistol to me.

"Metal, I beat egghead without firing a single shot. I think I can-"

"You don't know what's down there, but I do. I suggest you at least take that."

I knew Metal had an iron will, literally, so I decided it was best to just take it. I watched as the helicopter took off, and when it was out of sight we went towards the factory. We could expect to walk a good ten minutes because the chopper couldn't take us this far due to all the city's ruins. I was being aware of my surroundings, looking out for anything suspicious.

As we neared the factory, I saw something; it was the shadows from before. I froze, finding myself in some sort of trance, unable to move. Metal and Shadow looked back to me and stopped.

"Sonic?" Metal asked, sounding concerned.

"Forget him, let's keep moving." Shadow said walking away.

"Wait." Metal said, raising his hand to Shadow.

"What?" Shadow called back in an aggravated tone. But he received no answer, because Metal was beside me looking where I was. But when he saw them, he too froze into place. But he was frozen in fear.

"Sonic we have to go!" He shouted grabbing my arm. I blinked and looked to him.

"What are they!" I asked him.

"No time for questions! Just run!"

I then heard some sort of deformed, mutated scream. I looked up to where I last saw the shadows. What I saw was something from a nightmare. It had the basic form of a girl, but looked to be covered in some sort of liquid. Then it hit me, the little girl I saw all those days ago, she had that same substance coming from her mouth. This was that girl. She was, well, I didn't know at the time, and really, I still don't. She had become a monster.

I felt like crying for her, but then she jumped at me. I ran, looking for any signs of Shadow or Metal. They weren't there.

'Figures, those two were bound to leave me with this…thing' I thought, rather annoyed. I then heard childish laughter behind me, that thing was following me, even though I couldn't see it. I decided to see if I could see it, but it was nowhere to be seen. I then looked to my shadow, and it was smiling at me.

'Oh crap!' I thought frantically as it jumped at me. I managed to dodge it, but then it started having a fit with its claws. I was dodging with all my might, but this thing was quick. It managed to scratch me across the eye.

"Argh!" I yelped. I put my hand to the scratch, which was now bleeding heavily.

"Alight! No more mister-" I was interrupted by a good kick to the testicles.

"OH COME ON!" I yelled while retreating once more. I ran into a nearby hospital and into a storage room, putting my back to the wall next to the door. I waited and found that I also had a deep cut to my chest. 'What the hell?' I thought. This, indeed, alarmed me. But my worries grew to fear when I heard the thing laughing.

"Let's play hide and seek." It said. "You hide and I seek. Ready?"

I was getting ready to run, when I heard it counting. "10, 9, 8…"

I could feel my heart beginning to race. "7, 6, 5, 4…"

I put my hand to the door knob.

"3…"

I twisted it and opened the door.

"2…"

I walked out into the corridor and saw it at the other end, hands over its eyes.

"1." It said with a final giggle and then took its hands from its face with a big, crooked smile.

"Found you!" It said as it began walking to me. I ran in smartest direction, away from it.

"No fair!" It shouted. It then began screaming and the windows around me began to smash, but I carried on running. I eventually turned a corner and ran into the nearest room. I then got against a wall and studied my surroundings. It became clear which room I was in, x-ray.

I couldn't hear anything, so I decided to take a peek outside. I peered my head around the door and nothing was there. I sighed in relief and went back to my previous position, against the wall. I looked to the x-ray machine and saw it. It was behind the machine, I could see its bones, they were deformed and some were cracked to pieces. I looked to its face and saw that big, crooked grin.

"Peek-a-boo!" It yelled coming at me. I managed to dodge and began hitting it, but my hands just sank into it. It just let out a snarl and pounced on me.

I could feel it, it was happening again. My eyes lost their pupils, my fur became dark and my chest, arms and muzzle turned pale. I blanked out, not knowing what was going on. When I became myself once more, I could see the body of the creature on the floor, surrounded by a pool of the strange liquid. I left the room and wandered aimlessly around the hospital. I had killed that thing, that girl. When I snapped out of it, I realized I was in some sort of office. I looked around until I came across a holo-tape. It seemed like it was still working, so I turned it on.

When it came on, I grabbed a chair and sat in it, even though it gave off a loud creek. In the video was a hedgehog professor who said, "Today is an extraordinary day. Today I no longer have to be 'Professor Latem'. These fools were easy enough to trick. As I said in previous recordings, I've been looking for something to weaken Sonic T. Hedgehog, and I've finally found it." He said placing a hand to his throat and tearing at the skin. I cringed until I realized it was just a mask. Behind the mask was Metal.

"Of course, my disguise was simple, spell metal backwards and the result is latem. So I was to be Professor Latem. But that isn't important. I travelled to the future using one of my master's last prototypes until…the accident." He continued. "In the future I found Sonics weakness. His Son." I became interested at this point. 'My son?' I thought.

"Of course, this has no effect on the timeline, because I shall bring his son back for the required time, once he's proved his usefulness. Professor Gerald Robotnik, my master's grandfather, believed he created the ultimate life form. This is a lie. You see, my master used his grandfather's plans for the time machine. So Professor Gerald Robotnik did in fact create the first time machine and used it. While in the future he found a hedgehog, took a sample of its DNA and copied it. And in doing so, he COPIED the ultimate life form, Sonics son. I shall wait for the right time, and while I do, his son will grow and I shall make him hate Sonic. I shall wipe his memory of his father and mother, who in fact is Amy Rose, so he won't be held back. I shall replace it with the memory of the copy of himself that I retrieved so he will believe he truly was created by Professor Gerald Robotnik. Even though his memory is wiped, he will keep his hatred for Sonic, something as deep as true hatred can never truly be gone. But I bet you're all wondering what this boys name is, aren't you? His name is Shadow the Hedgehog, son of Sonic and Amy the Hedgehog, and he will be the destruction of this world, because if my master can't have it, no one can. But with all this planni-"

The tape fuzzed and another video came on, once again it was Metal. He seemed like he does now, like he has emotions.

"Over the years of raising Shadow, I have grown feelings for him, as if he was my own son. I feel I have robbed my enemy, Sonic, of that feeling. But rather than being pleased with myself, I am ashamed. I have successfully erased Shadows memory of Sonic, Amy and…me. He was the perfect weapon against Sonic, but Sonic will never know. I shall wait for the events between Sonic and Shadow to unfold. And when the time is right, I shall come out of hiding and-"

The video was once again interrupted by static and then another video came on, with Metal leaning close to the screen. He seemed to be in the very room I'm in now.

"Time has passed, and I keep travelling between times. I don't know what the date is or anything else. I know that in this time, my master has been dead for two years, so I'm more or less where I belong. But something hasn't turned out quite right. Sonic has been gone for two years so far and Tails has become an evil tyrant. Forgive me if I don't sound dramatic enough, but I don't know what to do anymore. I just hope Sonic returns soon, and if I must help him I shall, in any way I can. I owe him that much for what I did. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on Shadow and Amy."

I'm about to get out of the chair when one last video comes on.

"This is my last entry for this tape. Hard to believe how cold I was before. But anyway, it's been eight years since my last entry and I've heard rumours of Sonics return. If this is true, than everyone will once again know what it means to have hope. Over the past years I've made a few 'necessary' adjustments to myself." Metal says as he shows the camera the make-shift sniper which had replaced his arm. "I have been to the future, well, tried. I discovered something that worries me. When I go to the time that I had taken Shadow, rather than being greeted by the green fields and white peaked mountains, I'm greeted by darkness. Total darkness. Let's hope that this has a meaning."

And with that, the holo-tape finished. This all became more puzzling for me. But the strangest discovery was that Shadow, my rival, was my son. I hope Metal can make more sense of this. Let's just hope I get out of here alive first.