Chapter 13: Trouble Brewing (Part III)

Tick Tock Clock: Entrance

Sonic was still on the ground wounded, as Shadow and Metal Sonic looked on. "Shadow…" Sonic slowly said, quickly losing strength. "You don't have to do this. You can still stop."

"No!" Shadow shook his head. "I'm not doing this for myself! You wouldn't understand, I must do this!"

"Now Sonic," The blue robot said. "I will show you that I AM the Ultimate Sonic!" He kicked Sonic, making the hedgehog scream in pain as he rolled across the ground.

Mario got up and glared at Metal Sonic. "Hey! Leave Sonic alone!" He shouted, jumping on Metal Sonic's head, knocking both of them down.

"Yeah!" Luigi cheered. "Get him bro!"

Mario and Metal Sonic quickly stood up and glared at each other. "You will pay for that!" Metal Sonic snapped.

"Good will prevail over evil." Sonic said weakly, slowly standing up. "We will defeat you Metal Sonic! And you too Shadow!"

"Hmph," Shadow grunted. "If you can." He pulled out the fourth Chaos Emerald, which surprised everyone.

"Where did you get that!?" Tails asked, shocked.

"It was hidden by the clock tower." Shadow told him. He then folded both of his arms and started glowing red. "Chaos Blast!" He unleashed his attack, which knocked all the heroes to the ground.

"Ahh!" Tails screamed, as he fell off the edge to certain death. Luckily Luigi was able to grab his hand. "Thanks Luigi!" Tails said.

"Don't worry," Luigi said, pulling the fox up. "I got you!"

Just then Espio woke up. "Ungh…" He groaned. "I have to say that Metal Sonic and Shadow know how to fight."

"Yeah," Sonic said, standing up. "But we're not gonna let that stop us!"

"Yeah!" Mario agreed, jumping up. "Let's teach them not to mess with us!"

The heroes quickly attacked Shadow and Metal Sonic, and very slowly began to drive them back.

"I SHALL destroy you Sonic!" Metal Sonic shouted, speeding toward his adversary. But before he could reach him a missile came out of nowhere and knocked the robot down. "What in the-!?"

Everybody turns around and see a white bat and a red-orange robot standing behind them, apparently very cross. "Alright!" The bat said, walking forward. "That's more than enough fighting!"

"Omega and Rouge!" Tails exclaimed.

The large robot stepped forward. "I SHALL ASSIST YOU SONIC." It said.

"Omega!" Shadow exclaimed, upset to see him. "Don't help them! If you help them I have no choice but to destroy you! But I don't want to do that!"

The robot turned to Shadow. "SHADOW," It said firmly. "I MUST FIGHT ALONGSIDE THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE. EVEN IF THAT MEANS FIGHTING AGAINST YOU."

"Very well then," Shadow nodded. "Then you've chosen your own fate!" Shadow sped at Omega, only to be knocked down by a Screw Kick that Rouge performed.

"Hey, hold on!" Rouge said, putting herself between the two teams. "Let's all take a break and try to figure out what's going on."

"Heh," Sonic chuckled. "I've been trying to say that, but Shadow keeps refusing."

"It doesn't concern any of you!" Shadow said, taking out a Chaos Emerald. "I've wasted too much time with you! Chaos Control!" With that there was a flash of light and he and Metal Sonic vanished.

"What the heck was that about!?" Knuckles demanded.

"I don't know." Tails shrugged. "Is everyone OK?" He asked the team, who nodded.

Espio walked toward the newcomers. "Thank you for your assistance." He gratefully said. "I'm not sure what the outcome would've been if you hadn't helped."

"IT WAS OUR PLEASURE." Omega's voice boomed.

Rouge nodded. "Yeah, no problem." She agreed.

"You OK Tails?" Luigi asked the fox, remembering when he almost fell off the edge.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tails nodded.

"We must head back to the castle!" Mario suddenly exclaimed. "Shadow said something about everything being gone!"

"Right! Everyone hold on!" Sonic said, quickly grabbing his Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!" He and the heroes suddenly vanished from view.

Peach's Castle: Clock Tower

The heroes appear in a blinding flash of light, and look around them in horror.

"What's happened here!?" Mario asked, looking around. "Everything is a complete mess!"

"Where's the princess!?" Luigi asked, seeing no sign of her.

"Hmm…" Tails mused. "There may be several booby traps here. But I'm not sure how many there are or where they are, that is if there are any."

"Let's let Charmy set them off!" Vector suggested, at which Charmy quickly shook his head.

"Hey!" He shouted.

"Hey!" Luigi said, walking toward the wall. "There's a button here!"

"Luigi, don't push it!" Everybody said at once. But it was too late. Luigi had already pushed the button, and a large screen came down from the ceiling and turned on.

"Mwahahahaha!" An all too familiar voice laughed.

"Eggman!" Sonic gritted his teeth.

"Hello my dear enemies!" The fat scientist greeted. "I assume you guys pushed that all-too obvious button on the wall. You are too predictable!"

"Eggman!" Sonic demanded. "Where are our friends!?"

"Ahh, don't worry your little heads about that." Eggman rubbed his hands. "They're perfectly safe." Hammer Bro. is guarding them with his life, and he won't let any harm come to them!"

"You let them go, or else!" Mario demanded.

Another familiar voice laughed. "I don't think so Mario!" Bowser's deep voice boomed over the intercom. "But now our ultimate weapon is complete, and not even you can stop us!"

"I'd like to see you try that!" Tails challenged.

"Well," A certain black and red hedgehog said, shocking the heroes. "It's obvious we're stronger since you needed your friends to defeat only two of us!"

"Shadow!?" Mario and Sonic exclaimed.

"You will never defeat us Sonic!" Eggman announced. "Our victory is at hand! Hahahaha!" With that the link ended, and the TV went back into the ceiling.

"We have to do something!" Mario said, clenching his fists.

Tails shook his head. "Without the other Chaos Emeralds we can't do anything." He said. "We can't risk an attack without their power."

"I agree." Knuckles nodded. "We all saw that they now have Shadow on their team. That just made them much stronger."

"Hey, by the way," Tails said, looking around. "Have any of you seen Cream?"

Everybody shook their head. "I guess they took her too." Sonic suggested.

"WE MUST SAVE THEM!" Omega thundered. "WHO KNOWS WHAT THOSE VILLAINS MAY BE DOING TO THEM!"

Tails looked at this scanner again. "OK, this did pick up another signal, but it may be difficult to get to."

"What's that Tails?" Luigi asked.

"It's in a gold mine." Tails said to Rouge's delight. "It could be anywhere in there!"

"Then let's go!" Mario said.

"I'll go with you." Rouge offered. "A gold mine is the perfect place for this bat."

"Yeah," Knuckles said, approaching her. "Well you better not try anything funny, or else you'll be sorry for it!"

"Chaos Control!" Sonic quickly said. With that there was a flash of light and the heroes vanished once again.

Bowser's Castle: Basement

The villains were all talking downstairs.

"So, when are you keeping your part of the agreement Doctor?" Shadow demanded.

"In due time Shadow." Eggman assured him. "Once we defeat the heroes I shall do it. That WAS our agreement."

"Well then," Shadow said, clenching his fist. "I'll help you defeat them!"

"Well well," A voice said as Dimentio appeared into the room. "So we have Shadow the Hedgehog on the team after all. I must say it's an honor to meet you! I am Dimentio, and I have a feeling that we're going to be a great team."

Shadow smirked. "Just don't get in my way and everything will be fine."

"Dimentio," Bowser said. "We have detected another Chaos Emerald near Snow Mountain. I want you and Shadow to retrieve it."

"With pleasure." Dimentio smiled.

"Hmph, fine." Shadow nodded. "Chaos Control!" He then disappeared in a flash of light.

"This should be fun!" Dimentio exclaimed. "Ciao!" With that the magician snapped his fingers and vanished.

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To be continued...