Chapter 39: Payback

Prior to its explosion, Sonic was getting knocked around the glass capsule as it launched into space. Then by chance he hit the bottom part of it and caused the floor of the capsule to loosen. Out of curiosity, he looked inside and saw sticks of dynamite with a timer counting down from sixty-seconds.

Crap, I've got to get out of here, Sonic thought, then he looked down at the fake Chaos Emerald. I'm not sure if this'll work, but it's the best chance I've got at the moment.

Clenching the fake Chaos Emerald tightly in his hand, Sonic concentrated really hard. In his mind, Sonic pictured himself being inside the hallway outside the docking bay where the shuttle resided. He felt a strange sensation, and then when he opened his eyes Knuckles was helping him up.

"What happened to you?" Knuckles asked. "You just appeared out of nowhere and—

"I did it," Sonic muttered as he looked around and saw himself standing in the hallway he visualized. "I used Chaos Control."

"Chaos Control? Isn't that what Shadow uses to warp around?"

"Yeah, and I just remembered that I can do it too." Sonic straightened himself out and then said, "I take it you found your Master Emerald pieces?"

"Not just the ones I lost from the shuttle, but also Rouge's pieces," Knuckles said as he waved his gloved hand toward the newly reformed Master Emerald.

"She didn't just give them to you, did she?" Sonic said in a puzzled tone.

Knuckles blushed slightly. "Actually, she did."

"Why?"

"I don't know. We were fighting over the Emerald pieces one minute, and then the next she's falling off the narrow ledge we were standing on. Fortunately, I managed to save her, but then she called me a creep afterwards. So then I told her that I should at least get some kind of reward for saving her, and before I knew it she threw the Master Emerald pieces she took right at me and left."

"Weird. Well, if you could find Amy and Tails for me, that would be great. I'm going to head to the laser cannon's core and blow it up with this fake Chaos Emerald."

Then before Knuckles could question him further, Sonic took off at top speed.

###

Soon enough, Sonic was standing in a long tunneled hallway with two conveyer belts going in the same direction. He was just about to head down the hallway when a sudden bout of fatigue overtook him. As he changed back into Sonny, a set of footsteps came up to him.

"So that's how it is," Shadow said as Sonny turned to face him.

"Shadow," Sonny said in a surprised tone.

In response, Shadow walked past Sonny. "You can only possess your host temporarily instead of fully. No wonder you're so weak, Sonic."

"Hey, I'm not Sonic. The name's Sonny Hedge," Sonny said as he caught up to Shadow. "And what's that supposed to mean, anyway?"

Shadow walked faster. "Unlike Sonic, I have full control over my host. The Doctor has the same condition if you don't believe me."

"So when you say that you've fully taken over your host's body, does the host know about it?"

"I'm not sure. Now since Sonic was courteous enough to save your worthless life with his Chaos Control, I wouldn't risk it trying to stop me."

"You don't sound all that surprised that we survived the explosion. Has he done it before?"

"He did a long time ago, before trying to stop the Eclipse Cannon from going off, and if you don't stop following me we're going to be repeating the same story again."

"You mean Sonic and you will be repeating the same story. I'm just along for the ride."

"Well, your ride is going to end here, Sonny."

So Shadow took off down the hallway in a black blur. Sonny attempted to catch up to him with the Sonic Phase, but even then Shadow managed to outpace him by teleporting a little ways ahead each time. Irritated, Sonny looked around for Sonic in astral form and found him snoozing midair.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" Sonny whined. "Aren't you supposed to be helping me beat Shadow?"

"I'd love to, but I'm too tired to do it at the moment," Sonic answered as he yawned. "I guess using Chaos Control really took a toll on my energy."

"So what should I do?"

"Just keep running, Sonny. I know you can beat him."

After Sonic's astral form vanished, Sonny gritted his teeth and tried his best to keep up with Shadow. Eventually, the conveyor belts wound their way out into space which made Sonny halt near the opening. As Shadow continued past him, Sonny gritted his teeth.

"I can't do it, Sonic," Sonny said anxiously. "Shadow can survive in space, but I can't without you possessing my body."

"That's true, but you have to remember that Shadow's got the same situation going on for him as well," Sonic said as his astral form reappeared. "Sure he may have 'full control' over his host's body, but he still needs a host."

"So the only way we can defeat Shadow is—

"To awaken his host."

After Sonny quickly changed back into Sonic, he pursued Shadow in a sudden burst of speed that send him running nearly the entire length of the conveyor belts. But like before, each time he got close Shadow would warp a certain distance a way. This time, Sonic was ready and attacked Shadow each time he reappeared. He kept this up several times until Shadow was finally knocked out. As Sonic stood over him, Shadow's ears temporarily disappeared before resorting to their original form.

"Did you see that?" Sonny said in astral form. "His hedgehog ears briefly vanished. What does that mean?"

"It either means Shadow's spirit refuses to yield to its host, or the host is too weak to resist the spirit's influence," Sonic said. "Let's go before he wakes up."

Then before Sonny could say anything, Sonic had already made his way into the core of the laser cannon. There, he threw the fake Chaos Emerald into a small at the bottom of an alter that looked similar to the temple on Angel Island where the Master Emerald resided. Afterwards, he got out and picked up the walkie-talkie Tails gave him.

###

"I did it," Tails said wearily as he looked down at Eggman who lay unconscious on the floor with pieces of his Egg Mobile scattered everywhere. The Tornado 2 had been destroyed as well, but he managed to retrieve the Yellow Chaos Emerald from the wreckage. "If only Sonic and Sonny were here to see."

As Tails changed back into Miles, Amelia was kneeling on the floor holding the walkie-talkie with tears falling down her eyes.

"Sonny," Amelia whispered. "I never got to tell him that—

"Hey, guys, I'm ok!" Sonic's voice said on the walkie-talkie.

"Sonic?" Amelia pressed the call button on the walkie-talkie just as Miles got next to her. "Are you okay? How's Sonny?"

"Sonny and I are fine. You should look out the window."

Amelia and Miles did as Sonic asked and looked outside the window to see a small blue figure hanging on the tip of the laser cannon. Then in an instant, the blue figure disappeared just as a series of explosions erupted along the laser cannon's sides. As Miles and Amelia cheered loudly, Dr. Eggman reached out and picked up the Yellow Chaos Emerald which Miles dropped by accident. Next, he slowly got up and tried to sneak quietly out of the room but the loudly sliding door gave him away.

"Hey!" Miles said turning around to face Dr. Eggman. "Come back with that Emerald!"

While Dr. Eggman made a run for it, Miles followed close behind and Amelia brought up the rear.

"What just happened?" Sonic asked on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"Dr. Eggman just made off with the real Chaos Emerald," Amelia answered.

"Then he's probably heading for the control room," Sonic said. "Don't let him out of your sights. I'm on my way."

"Okay."

Up ahead, Dr. Eggman took a sharp right down the hallway. Miles attempted to follow him, but he was kicked in the face by a pair of white calf-length boots with pink hearts on the tips that came out of the ventilation shaft above. These boots in turn belonged to a teenage girl who looked like Rouge, only she had slanted pupils, a pair of white bat ears popping out of her shoulder-length ash-blonde hair, and a pair of black bat wings protruding from her back. Her clothes were different too, as she was sporting a pink heart-shaped breastplate with no straps, skin-tight black nylon pants underneath her white boots which matched her white elbow-length gloves. After she fully emerged out of the ventilation shaft, Miles backed into Amelia holding his nose.

"Rouge," Amelia said, still bewildered by her appearance.

"Well, if it isn't Amelia," Rouge said folding her arms confidently. "I've heard so much about you."

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Amelia, this isn't Rouge Baxter," Miles said through his nose. "You're looking at Rouge the Bat."

"You got that right, hon," Rouge said in response. "Now if you want those Emeralds so badly, you're going to have to get through me."

"Oh, I'm going to do more than just get through you," Amelia said as she summoned the Piko Hammer to her hand. "I'm going to make you pay for betraying our trust in you and getting Sonny in trouble with G. U. N."

As Amelia charged at Rouge with her hammer held high, Miles looked down at electronic layout of the ARK again. Finding an alternate route to the control-room, Miles took the perpendicular hallway next to him leaving Amelia to deal with Rouge. However, as he managed to catch up to Dr. Eggman once more he bumped into Shadow who appeared out of nowhere.

"Going somewhere?" Shadow asked sarcastically.

"Maybe," Miles replied.

"I don't think so," Shadow said as he disappeared again.

He reappeared behind Miles' head and just as he was about to kick him Knuckles came bursting down from the ceiling and pinned him down.

"Knuckles!" Miles exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

"I was trying to look for you and Amelia," Knuckles replied. "Good thing I took a wrong turn."

While Knuckles kept Shadow subdued, Miles continued in his pursuit for Dr. Eggman. Once he reached the control room, Miles saw Dr. Eggman go inside in a hurry. He attempted to follow, but the door wouldn't open.

"Eggman!" Miles shouted, pounding on the door. "You won't get away with this!"

"Oh, but I am," Eggman said tauntingly on the other side.

Then as Eggman's footsteps retreated further away, Miles turned into Tails and tried to push the door back but it wouldn't budge. Down the hallway, Sonic came running and was heading right for the door. Tails got out of the way just in time as Sonic slammed into the door. It bent slightly inward, but the door still wouldn't open.

"Geez," Sonic said irritably. "What the heck is this door made of?"

"It looks to be some kind of metallic alloy," Tails said. "But I'm surprised it's still this tough considering that this place hasn't had proper maintenance in a while."

"What's the matter, Sonic?" Knuckles said, appearing from the other side of the hallway with Amy following behind him. "Having a little door trouble?"

"Uh, maybe," Sonic said coyly. "Want to give it a shot?"

"Sure, I'm up for a challenge," Knuckles replied and got his fists pumped as he approached the door.

"I'm glad you two are okay, but what happened to Rouge and Shadow?" Tails asked.

"They got away," Amy said irritably. "I had Rouge pinned up against a wall but then she threw a smoke-bomb at me and took off. Shadow, on the other hand, warped out of Knuckles' grasp and threw a bunch of energy blasts at him before taking off."

Behind Tails, Knuckles punched the door so hard that it made everyone flinch. The door caved inward, having fallen off its hinges, allowing Sonic and the others to enter. On the other side of a narrow walkway stood the computer with the tower-like structure behind it where Dr. Eggman was placing the Yellow Chaos Emerald into. As soon as he did, the whole tower lit up and the lights underneath the walkway spun rapidly.

"What's happening?" Sonic asked.

"The cannon must be charging up to full power, now that all the Chaos Emeralds are assembled," Tails answered.

"Exactly," Dr. Eggman said triumphantly. "And unfortunately for you the time to fire the cannon again is nigh!"

Then before anyone could stop him, Dr. Eggman pushed a small red button next to the keyboard. On the computer-screen, it showed a bar that progressively filled up as the cannon reached full power. However, once the bar became full, the screen went black. A few seconds later, an old man who looked like an elderly version of Dr. Eggman appeared on the screen. He was tied to a chair in chains and his eyes were hidden by a pair of circular shades.

"Grandfather?" Dr. Eggman said as he stumbled back a little.

To be continued…