!LONG CHAPTER AHEAD! I'll explain more about why this chapter is so important for this many words at the end. So stay tuned for more. Sorry for the wait on this one, I've been holding back this chapter a little bit on its release due to the problems that the website has been having recently.
Chapter 10: The Way Ahead is Becoming Clear
Outside the Space Station
A bright star rises over the space station, illuminating the void of space. A small, rebellious cluster of light moving on its own, shielding the city within the station. This star is insignificant in size, yet it stands, compelled to guard the life behind it against the sinister serpent. This star was alive. This star was Sonic. He was already acquainted well with the power of the super emeralds, giving him his hyper form. Yet, it still felt like a whole new experience for him. This form's charge constantly changes to the ends of Sonic's fingertips, blipping in and out with something new. All of this made him feel unstoppable. He was ready to fight with all his life to stop Eggman, right here and now. Eggman was frightened immeasurably, all he could do the last time he encountered Hyper Sonic was to run away and hope that he ran out of rings. Somehow, he doubted that he even had a chance to run away. But Eggman's determination did not fail him now, as the Egg Wyrm still had been modified with a new core. Eggman wondered if this planet-killing core was enough to hold back Hyper Sonic. Now, there was only one way to find out.
Sonic strikes forward first with blinding speeds. Blink, and you would miss where he'd end up next. Eggman fully throttles forward himself, making the Wyrm slither through space. The spikes on the Wyrm's back detach and transform into tracking missiles. Soon, Sonic is being chased by many, if not hundreds of rockets. The hedgehog glides across the surface of the Egg Wyrm, causing a few missiles to clip and damage the hull. Thin metal poles extend all around from out of the hull and an electrical pulse interlinks them together. The chain of lightning shoots up and cuts off Sonic. The hedgehog is locked in place and a stray rocket catches up to him and explodes off contact. Sonic is sent hurling back out into space but swiftly regains his composure. Eggman takes the initiative to go on the offensive and uses whatever built-up electricity is left to fire sporadic pulses at Sonic. He dodges the first few projectiles with ease. Unfortunately, more and more pulses jumble close together, making little breathing room for Sonic to evade them all. One lucky pulse crashes into him and knocks him back again. Eggman moves the Wyrm up and charges toward Sonic. The hedgehog recovers fast enough to see the Egg Wyrm unlatch its jaws wide open, ready to swallow Sonic whole.
Sonic braces for impact, but as soon as the Egg Wyrm is about to collide with him, an orange gateway opens, big enough to fit the Wyrm inside. Sonic's vision is blocked due to the portal covering up the Egg Wyrm, but as the portal dissipates, the Wyrm is nowhere to be seen. Sonic is initially bewildered but quickly recalls Eggman installing the warp topaz into the Wyrm. It wasn't up, down, or to his side, so that left one place for Sonic to brace for, behind. Sonic snaps his body around and the Egg Wyrm is already a few meters away from him. The Wyrm's jaws snap down onto Sonic, but luckily, he catches both ends of the jaw with his arms and legs. The mech's mandible struggles to close further, due to the immense physical strength that Sonic was giving. Seeing that this situation was only going to end badly for him, Eggman tries one other trick up his sleeve. At the back of the skull of the Egg Wyrm, the core begins erupting with energy, which transfers throughout cords and wires with a liquid-smooth contrast compared to the erratic core. These wires lead to a metal cylinder with an opening in the middle, located in the back of the mouth of the Wyrm. Particles form and conjoin with one another within the opening, building up a deathly orb that compresses moments later. Sonic is too preoccupied with holding the jaws in place that he fails to notice this particle expel a slender beam that rams into him. Sonic is once again sent flying back and away from the Egg Wyrm. He was starting to worry if he had enough time to finish this fight since he recently learned that the Wyrm had an abundance of capabilities to stall him.
However, those troubles would have to subside, as Sonic noticed a new problem emerging. Whatever energy that was shot at him, it was eating away his hyper aura like a flame burning on a soft fabric. Sonic briefly panics as he pats away this dark lingering flame. With such a reaction of both the power of the chaos emeralds and the dark core of the planet, Eggman mischievously thought up a rotten plan. Eggman surmised that he didn't need to run away from Sonic anymore, or stall him, he could fight back using the weaponry powered up from the core of the Egg Wyrm. To Sonic, this was what he feared from the very beginning. If Eggman defeated him, everyone back home would be helpless against the mad doctor. If chaos energy was vulnerable to the attacks of the Egg Wyrm, what could stop it? The thoughts of fear, doubt, and dread were flooding through Sonic's brain. He had mistaken Vulnter as the true source of his worries, but she was only a small portion of what his true terror had spawned from. It was always Eggman, even when he was gone for a year, he rented out Sonic's mind with ease, with nonstop anxiety and concern that he would return, stronger than ever. Now that time has come. Now was the time for Sonic's fears to be tested, as his greatest adversary had him locked in a corner. He was stricken and frozen. He watched as the Egg Wyrm crept its way closer to him. Knowing that the hedgehog was trembling, Eggman was intending to ripen his fear by methodically easing closer to Sonic, letting him see the full terror in the Egg Wyrm.
Sonic wasn't sure what to do. One bad move could lead to getting hit by that devastating blast again. If that happened, he could get knocked out of his hyper form. But he couldn't just stand around and do nothing. He had little time as it is, he can't afford to waste it. He glances his eyes all across the Wyrm, trying to find any weak spot to attack. Fortunately, his eyes fixate on one spot. The core embedded in the skull of the Wyrm. A small glimpse of it was exposed. The armor was cracked open, no doubt due to Starline's last effort to stop Eggman. Sonic now had a new angle. If he could just destroy the core, the Egg Wyrm would be knocked out of working condition. But it wasn't going to be easy, as Sonic knew that Eggman would be smart enough to look out for any attacks leading there. But Sonic himself had his own plan. He was ready to step up to his fear. The Egg Wyrm reaches Sonic, and it charges its mouth cannon right at him. But as it fires, Sonic dodges and wraps around to the end of the tail last second. Sonic grabs hold of the tail and uses all his might to twirl it around in a spinning motion, gaining more momentum with each spin around. Sonic lets go and hurls the Egg Wyrm to the debris field of the destroyed Planet Hymn. The Egg Wyrm is slammed against multiple giant chunks of rock before Eggman stabilizes the trajectory of the mech. The Wyrm is not only surrounded in the middle of the debris field, but Eggman has also lost sight of Sonic. Eggman continues to scan around, but he is soon caught off-guard by Sonic plowing into the spine of the Egg Wyrm.
After that initial hit, Sonic dips back into concealment in the form of chunks of rock floating about. The Wyrm fires its mouth laser at the rocks, trying to catch Sonic behind them, but with each one he destroys, Sonic remains to be unseen. Once again, Sonic zooms in from behind and rams into the Egg Wyrm before retreating back into cover. This process repeats itself many times, and Sonic is able to constantly get a good hit in before getting blasted himself. With this motion in mind, Sonic plans to use it to aim for the core. He prepares himself behind another chunk and waits for Eggman to turn his back. In the cockpit, Eggman is fuming. He enters a code into his control panel and a hidden lever emerges from the side wall. At the top of the level, it reads 'Last Resort'. Eggman pulls it, and it powers down the Egg Wyrm. Sonic sees the lights of the Egg Wyrm turn off and its whole body goes limp. This was Sonic's chance. He blazes through and reaches the head. He tries to pry open the loose sheet of armor. Back in the cockpit, Eggman hears Sonic trying to break in. "Oh no you don't you irritable nuisance." Soon enough, the light inside powers back on, and outside, Sonic is able to rip away a portion of the armor, exposing the core even more. Sonic winds up punch, ready to break the core. But before he could, he sees the core start to overload violently. The whole Egg Wyrm powers back up and a shockwave is emitted from the core, sending Sonic back again. The shockwave's power was so immense that it shatters all the chunks of rock around them.
The Egg Wyrm was powered up, flowing with the energy of the core all around its armor plating. Sonic just lost his best chance and his concealment. But things only start to get worse from here. From the base of the head and the middle of the spine, Sonic sees those points disconnect. The tail was split into two and away from the head. Each end of the two new tails curl up and reconnect, forming a disk-shaped structure. To compensate for the loss of its tail, the head of the Egg Wyrm sprouts new appendages from the back. Tentacle-like limbs in the hundreds. The disks start spinning rapidly, conducting even more energy from the core. Both disks are enveloped in this energy, sparking uncontrollably, like they have a mind of their own. Despite this change of phase, Sonic doesn't falter. He remains vigilant and is ready to carry out the true battle.
The Egg Wyrm screeches, and it sends the disks flying after Sonic. He does his best to dodge past them and aim for the head. However, he wasn't ready for the tentacles in the back of the head to shoot forward, trying to pierce Sonic. Fortunately, he narrowly avoids them and rises up to plummet back down and stomp hard on the Egg Wyrm's head. But he is immediately caught out in the open as a portal manifests ahead of him, and one of the disks flies out of it and crashes into Sonic. Since he was bluntly hit by that putrid energy, it started eating away at Sonic's aura. To get rid of the energy gnawing away at his body, Sonic darts forward and spins like a dreidel going Mach 10, making the energy clear off him. More portals appear, with more of the disks and laser exiting out of them to hit Sonic. It was a true bullet hell, as Sonic barely squeezes out of the pinch of danger and races to a shattered rock. Sonic starts to pick up his speed, creating afterimages of himself. These images rapidly kick and throw whatever rock they can find at the Egg Wyrm. After getting pelted for a few seconds, the Egg Wyrm forms a portal ahead of itself and shields them from the rocks. Sonic goes bigger and starts pushing forward a gigantic chunk of earth toward the Wyrm. To retaliate, the Egg Wyrm shoots its mouth laser through the chunk, demolishing it. Smaller remains of the chunk fling forward, and Eggman can't spot Sonic in the wreckage, however. The hedgehog perfectly hides himself behind a falling piece of debris, unseen by Eggman. At the last second before passing the Egg Wyrm, Sonic shoots forward and grabs the braid of tentacles behind the head, and pulls it up with him. Like using a flail, Sonic whips the head of the Egg Wyrm against nearby asteroids. In the cockpit, Eggman is being tossed around forcefully, as each time the head collides with an asteroid, he collides with the walls. Eggman manages to press a button, which causes the tentacles to channel electricity, shocking Sonic and making him let go. The Egg Wyrm's head regroups with the rest of its body, and it starts reconnecting itself back to its original form.
"Ready for the grand finale?" Eggman says as he twists a knob on his control panel. The core fills the mech once again, but in turbo mode. Wires and tubes overfill with its energy. Leaking from the mouth of the Wyrm. An unstable glow emits from the core, and systems inside the mech flash with warnings and errors, but Eggman doesn't seem to care, as he continues to let the mouth cannon charge up. Sonic is still trapped in a bind from the electricity. He's helpless to do anything to avoid this shot. Back in the cockpit, Eggman fails to see the warp topaz flicker with life. The overload of energy in the gemstone causes it to flash, which blinds Eggman. Within an instant, the gemstone shatters. The shell of the warp topaz is left behind as the looming dust transcends through the cockpit. The sudden disruption from the warp topaz briefly halts the charging process of the Wyrm's cannon. Sonic spots a cloud of orange dust fume out of the armor and traverses through space. As if the dust gained sentience, it floats over to Sonic on its own. The dust evaporates into Sonic's body, giving the hedgehog a warm feeling. Like someone was by his side. Someone he could trust to help him get out of the dark times. The bind disappears and Sonic rushes straight at the Egg Wyrm.
Eggman quickly boots the systems back up in the Egg Wyrm, and it starts firing its laser. Sonic collides with it head-on, but he uses his hands to push forward. The beam gets larger, and Sonic starts to lose distance. But there it was again. That feeling of someone supporting him. That someone guiding his hands forward through the impenetrable wall. Sonic thought of these actions as not just for himself, but for someone who he thought deserved to be here at this moment. This was for Dr. Starline. Sonic pushes forward with all of his strength, clearing the distance ahead with ease. At this point, nothing was going to stop him. Sonic pushes back the laser and bolts into the mouth of the Egg Wyrm and breaks through the other side, punching a hole through the core. The Wyrm spazzes out, and inside, Eggman panics as alerts and sparks fill the cockpit. "No! Not now! Nooo!" He yells. Sonic watches as the Egg Wyrm's armor begins to cave in and circulate around the broken core. The shell cracks and snaps, crushing in on itself until it finally implodes with a white flash.
Space Station: City
Gathered in the streets are the citizens of the city, accompanied by Tails and Knuckles. As they look into the debris field, they see the pale blast extend far beyond, with its blinding flash making everyone who dared gaze at it flinch and recoil back. A group of children cower together in fear, but Knuckles kneels down to them and shields them with his body from the bright light. Everyone inside the station freaks out as a shockwave ripples through the ground. After seconds of terror and anticipation of doom, relief finds its way to everyone's heads as the quakes cease and the blinding light dissipates. Tails is the first to look back up, and he is in awe. The explosion has dissolved but left behind a dazzling micro nebula made of white and purple dust. Although its beauty is immaculate, the sweetness turns bitter as there is no sign of Sonic left. "Where's Sonic?" Knuckles asks Tails. The fox boy's eyes race on every side, desperate to find his friend. But he couldn't find him. He was gone. Tails' ears perch down, and grief fills his face. He didn't want to believe it, but considering the sheer size of that explosion, Sonic might not be able to come back.
"Thank you, Sonic." Tails muttered to himself. "Thank you for everything."
"Uh…You're welcome, buddy." Tails' ears flick back up and he turns around in astonishment as he sees Sonic slowly float down to the ground, still in his hyper form. "Not gonna lie, that was close. Frankly, I never want to do any of that again-Whoa!" Sonic is caught off-guard as a crowd of civilians swarm behind him and raise him up above them, crowd surfing along all of them. Tails and Knuckles are picked up too and join in on the celebration. Before the three even know it, the whole city is alive and parading throughout. People leaning out of windows, cheering for their heroes. They're free from the tyranny, free from the evil, free of being an afterthought.
Later
The crowd has dispersed to the sidewalks, watching as Sonic is hooked up to a couple of wires leading to a small glass container. With a press of a button by Tails, the wires begin to suck out the power in Sonic and it starts filling the container with chaos energy. "So this device is sucking out all of the chaos energy?" Sonic asks Tails.
"Every bit that's left in you." Tails answers. "When we get back home, I'll transfer every drop left to its original casing. So this container is only temporary." The fox further elaborates. As he's done talking, Sonic's hyper form vanishes and the rest of the chaos power is trapped in the container. "We're ready. Let's not keep everyone home waiting."
"You two head to the hanger, I'll catch up." Tails and Knuckles give one final wave to the citizens before leaving. Sonic remains and he looks at the audience ahead of him.
"Before I go, I want you to know about the real hero who saved our lives. Without him, we could not have stopped Eggman. He wanted to be a great scientist who dared to inspire his peers and the people. But he was lost and diluted. Evil distorted his ambition into a weapon of chaos, but he never compromised what he truly believed in. As long as he could see a better future for all of you, he would never cast a life aside for his pride. In the end, he told me that you saw him as a monster. But the last breath he ever took was for you all. He was misguided, but his path was made clear. I want you all to know that. For Dr. Starline." With that, Sonic waves his hand goodbye and leaves the spot.
Space Station: Hanger-Later
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles approach their shuttle. Sonic has his arms behind his head, Tails carefully holding the chaos container, and Knuckles with his arms crossed. Sonic sighs, he was ready for this adventure to reach its resolution. "Been a while since I went Hyper Sonic, but I did not disappoint."
"This whole adventure would've wrapped up sooner if I went hyper." Knuckles whispered.
"No way! That is totally preposterous." Sonic retorts.
"How much do you want to bet on it?"
"I'm willing to bet so much more than you can handle."
"Tails! What do you think? Who has the strongest hyper form?" Knuckles presses Tails, leaving the fox completely speechless. Not under his own free will, he meekly answers.
"I think if I took the chaos energy first, I would've saved the day the quickest." He jokingly responds. Sonic and Knuckles are less than thrilled by that answer and are immensely disappointed.
"Ok, we can agree that would never happen." Knuckles declares.
"Yeah, he would only be able to go super if he got all that chaos power." Sonic snobbishly admits. Tails is once again speechless, and his cocky attitude had been quickly shattered.
"I know a way he can settle this." Sonic announces, leaving Knuckles invested. Sonic opens his mouth but doesn't speak. Instead, he waits for Knuckles to lean his head closer to him. "First one to enter the shuttle wins!" Sonic says in rapid succession. The hedgehog instantly races to the shuttle, leaving Knuckles in the dust and angry. Knuckles runs after Sonic and chases him inside the shuttle. Tails can't help but giggle at the lack of maturity those two emit, before catching up to them himself. As they all board the shuttle, it detaches from the hanger and flies into space. Cruising away from the station, Sonic peeks his head out the window to watch as the station disappears from view as they soar farther away. The hedgehog smiles before leaning back in his comfy seat. He was ready to relax. Sonic rests his eyes and yawns, he needed this. But before his mind slumbers, drifting into peace, he thinks of one last thought. 'I wonder how everything back home went.'
G.U.N. HQ: Outside the base
Malevolent thoughts plagued Harrow's perception and rationalization. Her prey was right where it needed to be. With an itch of malice irking the back of her mind, she was ready to give in to her wild instincts. Surrounded by what he thought were his allies, Shadow had nowhere else to go, and no one else to rely on. And yet the fact that he was spared time to collect his thoughts was both saving him and making him worried. He could easily devise a plan to stall and escape, but he couldn't help but notice that he was practically in a gladiator match. The soldiers around acting as an audience, and for what he could only assume was his challenger, Harrow. "Arsonal, check up on James. Make sure he's completed his objective." Harrow commanded the timid fox. Arsonal nods modestly before making his way through the middle of the circle. He trots closely next to Shadow, muttering brief words to him.
"Good luck." He apathetically advises the ebony hedgehog. Arsonal proceeds through to the base and enters through its main blast door. Shadow twists his upper body back to eye Arsonal. Already, Shadow hated how condescendingly he was being treated. As if he was being handled like some worn-out toy with little of its last original patches, beaten and of no use besides getting ripped apart further. Was this not a battle in their eyes? Rather a game instead?
"Eyes on me." Shadow snaps his focus back on Harrow. His quills standing up as anxiety trickles into his pores. A feeling that Harrow senses. She cackles in delight, furthering Shadow's uneasiness. "I love screams, don't you? Now consider what it means to scream. A scream of shock or fear. But perhaps one of joy or excitement. They're all noises emitted by someone with an urge to let out their emotions with vocal expression…However, I believe one scream speaks volumes louder than all the rest. Do you know what that is?" Shadow didn't feel like indulging this psychopath. This all leads to a nasty brawl, so there was no point in a rebuttal to her heinous questions. "Well, that would be the scream of silence. Strange, right? Do you know why? It's because of the eyes. They give meaning behind the futility of words. When someone screams in silence, all emotions and sensations try to escape through your shifting veil." Harrow lifts her razor claws up to her face and scrapes them down her cheeks, peeling away her own fur and skin, letting blood drip down to the ground. A horrific gaze uncovers in her eyes, lusting for violence. "They give my memories life. Each essence of a soul I claim, their scream of silence is the flame I need to move on in this meaningless existence. Oh, Shadow. How I can't wait for your shrieks to loop in my dreams." Shadow has had enough. Fed up with this crazed lunatic, he charges in for the first attack. An attack Harrow fondly anticipates. A head-first charge with a punch aimed right at her throat.
Harrow sidesteps and avoids the attack, but Shadow forms into a ball and drifts into a u-turn right back at Harrow with a homing attack. Harrow fabricates a crimson crystalline spear from her palm and uses it to redirect Shadow's attack to the ground. The charge doesn't end as Shadow bounces back from the dirt and strikes the bottom of Harrow's chin with a roundhouse. But instead of backing off and counter-attacking, Harrow's pupils narrow, and she pounces forward, catching Shadow off-guard and in a less-than-desirable position to defend. A flurry of frenzied swipes and thrusts from both Harrow's claws and spear has Shadow against the ropes. But then again, he is far faster than Harrow, and this time he wasn't going to get reckless. Shadow dips back about twenty meters to get some breathing room. However, he was not expecting Harrow to already close the gap with her relentless dashes. Shadow realized that he wasn't fighting any ordinary combatant, but rather a feral beast with bloodlust. She was unlike anything he had ever fought before. She had no preservation for her own safety and instead enjoyed the thrill of a perilous hunt. Repositioning wasn't going to work as effectively if she kept pursuing him at this pace. Harrow hastily swipes down with both her claws into the ground, followed by a pulsation of a dark red mist trickling down from her arms and into the soil. It doesn't take long for putrid black crystal spikes to protrude from the ground and hone in on Shadow's position. The hedgehog steps out of the way, but the attack isn't over. The spikes liquify and evaporate into a steam that concentrates around itself to create a ghastly mass of fog. The fog's speed increases drastically as it targets Shadow with accurate precision. Once again, Shadow is on the ropes as he evades the congealed ball of fog hurling toward him. With him distracted, Harrow's claws harden with a crystal shell, and once fully constructed, she whips her hands forward at Shadow, launching a barrage of sharp crystal bullets.
With his eyes focused on the fog, Shadow couldn't react fast enough to avoid the crystal bullets entirely. He manages to shift his body, but a few bullets graze his shoulder and leg. The disruption knocks Shadow off his feet, helpless to defend himself against the concentrated fog. The haze finds its way to Shadow's eyes and nose, entering through his orifices.'This was it.' Shadow thought. He was done for if this fog was poisonous or corrosive in any way. It was at the mercy of Harrow that he stood a chance at living. But at the moment he couldn't tell, since the feeling of the mist was oddly not painful. Instead, his brain was sensing some 'elevation' and he started feeling lightheaded. He was fighting to stay lucid, but his conscious mind was no longer in his control. His still thoughts were being replaced with howls of pain and agony. Not of his own, but one that he once heard in his past. His surroundings started to melt away in his perception, leaving him weightless in a dark void. "Shadow?" A distant echo plays. "Shadow? Where are you?" The voice repeats. "Shadow, help us!" A union of voices call out his name. Shadow closes his eyes and covers his ear, trying to drown them all out, but their voices pierce through his mind. "Shadow!" Shadow's eyes open. He was shocked to find himself back on solid ground. Although, he wasn't on the planet. The floor was metal and the room he was in was circular. One look out the window revealed to him where he was. Staring down at the planet through the view, Shadow realized he was back aboard the A.R.K. 'How is this possible?' He wondered. 'This can't be happening. This isn't real.'
"Shadow?" The ebony hedgehog freezes in shock, and as he turns he can't believe his eyes. Standing in front of him was a blonde little girl, happily staring at him.
"Maria?" A trip down memory lane. He remembered this exact day. This had to have been the day she died. "What's going on? Harrow! What are you doing to my mind?!"
"What are you talking about, silly?" Maria blissfully questions Shadow. "And who's Harrow?" Shadow steps closer to Maria.
"No, you are not her. She's gone." Shadow exclaimed to the ghost of his past. But suddenly, another voice spoke out to him.
"Then what does that make us?" Shadow snaps around. There, standing together in front of him, were his comrades. Sonic, Rouge, Omega, Tails, Silver, etc. They were all there. "Are we gone to you?" Sonic said. Shadow stepped back out of fear. He was sure that this illusion was simply just a memory replaying to throw him for a loop, but the arrival of his allies put a fork into all of that. As Shadow steps further back, his shoe treads on a wet surface. He turns his head down, but he wishes he hadn't. Shadow's shoe had been stepping in a flowing thin trail of blood on the floor. His mouth quivers and his eyes widen as he inches his head to face behind him. She was lying on the floor. Maria was already gone, lifeless within the blink of an eye. A red hole through her heart, the source of the leak of blood. The sound of thumping and the metal floor banging shifts the hedgehog's attention back. As with Maria, all of his allies were gone. Piled on the floor, departed of life. Shadow crashes to the ground on his knees. His face remains apathetic, but tears start streaming down his face.
"How easy it was to crack your mind." Harrow's bodiless voice resonates. "All that needed to be done was to show you that no matter how strong you are, you can't save them. You are no longer in control, ultimate lifeform." Harrow began to cackle uncontrollably. The more she did, the more Shadow clenched his fists in anger. Back in reality, Harrow stands in front of Shadow, who is in the same position as in his mind, but oblivious to the real world. Harrow stops laughing and calms down. She seems disappointed with how things turned out like she was expecting more. "Hmm, I was hoping for more of that resistance you gave me back in Soleana. You were more exciting back then." Harrow examines Shadow's wrists, noticing the locks placed on his inhibitor rings. "These must be your restrainers. Let's fix that." Harrow grabs both wrists and places her fingers along the inhibitor rings. She concentrates and more of her mist manifests from her pores. The mist lays on the rings and locks, embedding itself in the material. With time the particles start to corrode the rings, gnawing away at the substance. Soon, both locks and the inhibitor rings melt away for good. Harrow lets go. "There we are." She waits patiently for any reaction, any quake in the hedgehog's body. Yet, nothing happened. Shadow's consciousness has checked out, making Harrow think that her illusion was too much strain on his mind. "How disappointing." With a bitter aftertaste in her mouth, Harrow decides to quickly end it all. She reforms the crystal spear in her hand and aims the tip at Shadow's throat. "Sayorana, Shadow the Hedgehog."
In a moment of briefness, Shadow's finger twitches with a green spark interlinking between the rest of his fingers. His eyes shift up to look Harrow in the eye. This was not over yet. As Harrow attempts to plunge her spear into Shadow, he warps out of sight in an instant. Harrow is ultimately confused, and small murmurs break out in the crowd of soldiers watching. Harrow looks around, but can't find Shadow. Frustrated, she yells out to her audience. "Well, where is he?" Just then, Shadow appears behind her. Harrow gasps as she is kicked up into the air. Shadow continues to use chaos control and meets Harrow mid-air to knock her back down to the ground with an overhead slam. With her in the dirt, Shadow creates several instances of chaos spears to lob at her. The spears connect and the ground below explodes. Shadow teleports back into a safe position. The soldiers start to freak out and they aim their weapons back at Shadow. "Wait!" Shadow couldn't believe it, but when Harrow emerged from the crater, he knew that it would take a lot more firepower to stop her. She stumbles upright with bruises and scratches all over her body, but she strives forward. "This isn't over until one of us dies." Harrow's crimson powers start to seep from her body, forming an oozing aura around her. Seeing that she won't give up, Shadow also powers his body with the unstable chaos energy inside him, forming a green static aura around himself. The pain was unimaginable, but he had to do this to stop her. At the same time, they lunge themselves at each other and clash in the middle, their powers trying to overlap and overwhelm the other. They both look at each other scornfully, but that angry look soon turns into sadistic enthusiasm in Harrow's smile and eyes. She was enjoying herself again. The power in the collision becomes overpowering for anyone observing. The traitorous soldiers panic and try to flee the scene as the power conducted becomes too much.
With one final push from both Shadow and Harrow, a massive explosion releases, sending both of them flying. Harrow skids across the ground as she lands, eventually slowing down. Shadow is more or less the same, but as he weakly stands up, he sees Harrow unconscious. As for the audience of soldiers, they had either fled or were caught in the blast. Regardless, Shadow had time to recuperate. But his downtime would spoil, as he clenches his stomach and falls to his knee. He starts coughing, even regurgitating blood. His sickness was catching up again, and he needed to find his inhibitor rings fast. Reality hit hard soon after, as Shadow faintly remembered what happened prior to unleashing the unstable chaos energy. Harrow had destroyed the rings. The ebony hedgehog didn't have time to think, as he wasn't sure how long it would be for reinforcements to show up, or for Harrow to wake up. With hesitation, he races back inside the base in hopes of returning to Rouge and Dr. Solace, if they were still ok.
G.U.N. HQ: Control Room
A symphony of machines and circuits harmonize through the computers. Rows of servers traveling a long hallway, all connected to one large monitor. James played through the keyboard as if it were a piano. Striking each key vigilantly, boasting a cocky grin on his face. With a little more configuration and a press on the enter key, a USB port opens up on the side of the computer. James chuckles as he inserts a flash drive into the port. A pop-up display tab shows in the middle of the screen, exhibiting a progress bar labeled 'Drone Override'. Every couple of seconds, that bar moves up by 1 percent. "Stop!" James' brash look remains unphased as he sneers back at the intruding voice. Standing in the doorway was Commander Tower and Silver. Despite Tower pointing a gun at James, the once-friendly lieutenant is undaunted. "Remove that drive at once."
"I had a feeling those good-for-nothing mercs wouldn't finish the job. But I had no idea Omega wouldn't manage either. No doubt because of Silver." James retorted. He faces his body toward them both and hides his hands behind his back. After fiddling with a watch strapped to his wrist, it emits a signal noted 'distress'.
"Step aside, James." Tower walked forward, leaving Silver standing at the edge of the doorway. "Don't make me use force."
"There's nothing stopping you. Admit it, you want to do this, but killing me will just leave more questions unanswered. Besides, the signal has been sent. Soon, the whole world will be under our control, regardless if you stop me."
"What signal?"
"The moon of course. A dear friend of mine casted a hex to mold its new form, but it was a simple theatric to get all of those not in the mix in a panic. Those who are a part of the Abyss Voyagers will interpret it as no more than a sign."
"So that's the name of your organization." Tower added.
"Not my organization. I was just brought along to help them take over this world. Don't worry, the ones in charge will be here soon." Suddenly, Silver is nabbed from the doorway and into the hallway at high speeds by the blur of some humongous robot. Tower briefly looks back to see Silver gone. With him distracted, James tackles Tower, trying to take the gun from his hand, but all he can manage was to knock it out and have it slide under the desk below the monitor. Tower kicks up and pushes James off of him. Tower then lays a fist right into the man's face, knocking him back even further. James recoils and clenches his face in pain, but before he could react, Tower is right on top of him again and knees him in the gut. With James momentarily incapacitated, Tower sees that the progress bar is ticking up further, currently at 34 percent. Tower rushes to the flash drive, but James recovers and trips Tower to the ground. Going on the offensive, James kicks the old man in the ribs while he's down. "You deserve this." James hissed. "After everything you've been through on the A.R.K., siding with G.U.N. in the end, THAT was what you went with? After everything they did? You make me sick."
"Just who are you?"
Meanwhile, Silver is still being hauled down the hallway. By what he couldn't make out yet, but at this speed, if he hit a wall he'd be dead. Silver uses his psychokinesis to push his attacker away from him and slams them to the ground. Now free, Silver clearly sees who was the aggressor. Omega, now back from the rubble he was put under, had taken Silver away from the control room. *DO NOT INTERFERE ANY FURTHER, OR YOU WILL BE ANNIHILATED.*
"Get a hold of yourself, Omega! We're your friends!" Silver tried to call out to him, but it was no use.
*I NO LONGER NEED FRIENDS. I WAS REPROGRAMMED TO ONLY SERVE.* The robot coldly responded. Silver tilted his head down, remorseful and sorrowed. He knew what he had to do.
"I'm sorry, Omega, I hope this doesn't hurt." The truth was that Omega stood no chance against Silver. The match-up was not in his favor, despite his immense firepower. With the flick of his hand, Omega is encompassed in Silver's blue aura, still and motionless. Silver tightens his fingers together, causing the robot's armor to crush and tear, with nothing that the poor bot could do to stop him. But it had to be done. After ripping each compartment apart, all that Silver left of Omega was his head, which was still active.
*RUDE.* Was all the bot said. Silver walks over to Omega's wreckage and picks up his head in his hands. *RELEASE ME FROM YOUR FILTHY MITTS.* Silver looks amused.
"What would you be able to do?"
*NOT MUCH, OTHER THAN TO TRY STARING AT YOU TO DEATH.* As Silver chuckles at Omega's empty threats, an orange light reflects off his white fur. Silver looks up and then down the hallway, seeing a raging fireball hurling toward him. With no time to stop it with his psychokinesis, all that was left of Omega would be incinerated. Quickly thinking, Silver turns around and holds Omega's head out of harm's way, taking the fireball directly himself. The intense heat singeing the tips of his quills. Silver was knocked down, but he wasn't out, and in a few seconds, he stood back up. At the end of the hallway was Arsonal, pointing his flame cannons at Silver.
"Leave now. You are of no concern to our goals."
"If you're the one endangering my world, then I should be of concern."
"Is that what you think we're doing? Putting your home at risk? No, we're gonna make it better for all of us. I promise you that peace is our objective, at any cost." Arsonal tried to reason, but Silver was not buying any of it.
"Do you really believe that what you're doing will result in peace? You're only frightening the whole world. How can you expect people to listen to you if you are putting them in danger?" Arsonal's eyebrow twitches in frustration, he is clearly fed up with Silver's sentiment.
"I would not be here today if I wasn't shown that fear had no place in an individual. I learned order, loyalty, and obedience when I was just four. Despite all the rights you think of as wrongs, I swore to myself to never harm the innocent. They don't deserve to live in fear as I have." Arsonal's flame cannons erupt with molten lava and leak to the ground, igniting the floors and walls in flames. "But I have my orders, and I will maintain them to seek peace on this planet."
"If you really care for the people of this planet, then get out of my way." Silver warned, but Arsonal refused to budge. Instead, he doubles down on his firepower, and the walls are engulfed in a blaze, surrounding Silver in them.
"You will not interfere with us any further."
G.U.N. HQ: Medcenter
Dr. Solace had finished packing all of her equipment. She was ready to move Rouge safely without worrying about her slipping into a coma. Dr. Solace carefully moves her body to a stretcher, trying not to cause any disruptions or sudden movements. She succeeds and soon straps her firmly in to secure her. Before she could move her out, Shadow races into the room in a hurry. "Is she ready?" He asks.
"Shadow?" Solace sees that Shadow's body is battle scarred and battered. "What happened to you?" Solace examines him closer, and is shocked when she sees his inhibitor rings gone. "Oh no, what happened to your rings?"
"They were destroyed."
"What do you mean they were destroyed?"
"That's what happened. Are you ready to move her out?" Shadow eyes Rouge.
"Yeah, she's ready. But, Shadow, without your inhibitor rings, do you know what that means?" Shadow didn't care what it meant, all that he needed to focus on was getting Rouge out of here.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does! Shadow, without the rings to subdue the unstable chaos energy poisoning your bloodstream, you only have two months to live." Shadow's eyes widened. Was there really that little time left? "And that's if you don't use any more chaos energy from now on. The more you use it now, the more your time is cut in half."
"How close are you to finding an antidote?" Shadow was starting to be scared for his own life. Two months without using chaos energy was not going to cut it if he also had to both fight someone like Harrow, and defend Rouge. He would be outmatched and overwhelmed in an instant.
"We don't have time to make one before your sickness catches up to you. Your only chance is to hope Sonic comes back with the chaos emeralds and hopefully, and I mean hopefully, that the stable chaos energy can subside the poison." Before Shadow can process what to do, a bellowing of rage echoes from out in the hall.
"Shadooow!" Both Shadow and Solace turn their heads to the source of the yelling. They can't see her, but Shadow knew that Harrow was back and closing in. They were running out of time. "Where are you?!"
"Who is that?" Solace asks.
"Trouble. We can't escort Rouge out the hall anymore. However, I can chaos control us out of here."
"No, that would accelerate your death the fastest. We need you, Shadow, for the long run. So don't waste your life now."
"Then how are we getting out of here?" Dr. Solace considers the options, dread forms on her face, but she's determined that whatever she is about to say has to be what they go with.
"We can't get out of here now, but both of you can hide." Dr. Solace feels around the wall beneath the bed, and after finding and pressing a hidden button disguised as a tile, it reveals a square opening in the wall. Inside is a moderately sized barren room. "A panic room. It can fit three people at most, but with Rouge on the stretcher-"
"There isn't any way you can fit?"
"Too risky. Don't worry, I can do my best to hold her off." Shadow was worried about what would happen to her, but he could only trust her intent at this point. Shadow pulls Rouge into the panic room, shortly following in himself. It was a tight fit, but he managed to squeeze in. "Promise me you'll both be okay." Shadow nods. Solace presses the hidden button again and the door to the room closes. Soon after it does, Harrow limps into the med center and immediately confronts Solace.
"Where is he?" Harrow growled.
"Where's who?" Solace directly feigned ignorance. Inside the lightless panic room, all that Shadow could do is listen in on the conversation and hope that Harrow doesn't figure out that they were there. Back in the med center, Harrow shortly loses her patience and forms his crystal spear, and points it at Solace.
"Don't toy with me. I know from James that you are his current doctor. I also know that you are Rouge's current doctor. Yet, none of them are here. I say that's being neglectful, don't you think?" Not fearing her, Dr. Solace approaches closer to Harrow, trying to stay defiant.
"A doctor's job is to ensure the safety of their patients. Even if I knew where they were, I would never tell you."
"I know you know where they are. Last chance, where are they?" Harrow eases her spear closer to Solace, but she doesn't flinch. Dr. Solace stays silent, she was not willing to sell her patients out. Harrow, knowing that this wasn't going to go anywhere, sighs in defeat. "So be it." Without hesitation, Harrow plunges her spear through Solace's abdomen. Solace tries her best to stop it from going in any deeper, but it was far too late for her. Blood splatters across the floor and Solace struggles to stay upright while Harrow firmly keeps the spear in place. Shadow was furious that he couldn't do anything to help but just listen. If he went out now, he'd be putting Rouge back in danger. But he felt obligated to do something to save Solace. It took every fiber in his body to hold him back from doing something stupid. It was slowly killing his mental state as he overhears the struggle outside. He just wished for it to stop. After losing more of her vitality to fight, Solace's movements slow and she hunches forward lifelessly as the hue in her eyes fade away. Harrow removes the spear and Solace drops to the ground. With nothing left to hunt, Harrow leaves the room. Shadow once again feels like he's losing control. He was given the choice to save one life or endanger the other. Either way, someone was going to die.
G.U.N. HQ: Control Room
James had tied Commander Tower to a chair. Tower was helpless to watch as the progress bar to the hack reaches 100 percent. "Finally." James murmurs. "G.U.N. is now my puppet to control."
"You won't get away with this." Tower barks at James, to which he turns to him with a devious smirk.
"There's always a possibility for this to come right back to bite me in the butt, but I'm sure that there is nothing left for you to do. Those under G.U.N. who haven't already converted to our cause will either turn around eventually or… well, we'll deal with them. But you are massively outnumbered, Tower." They are interrupted as Harrow enters the room. "Ah, Harrow, how was the hunt?"
"Don't patronize me. Shadow and Rouge got away." A look of alleviation briefly fills Tower's face. He was at least happy that someone made it out. However, the end of his problems have yet to conclude as Harrow menacingly eyes him down. "What is he doing still alive?"
"I've decided to keep him around a bit. Let him soak in my victory…" Harrow looks at James with contempt. "I mean our victory." He corrects himself. "Don't worry about my end of the job, the drones should help us win over the rest of this planet's governments. Why don't you help your friend, Arsonal? He's just out there and down the hall." Harrow grunts as she exits the room.
In the hallway, both Silver and Arsonal are winded and drained from fighting. It was fierce and tough on both of them. The flames left little windows of opportunity for Silver to avoid, but his agileness and psychokinesis were giving Arsonal a hard time to land a hit on the hedgehog. "I'm not done yet… are you?" Arsonal panted, barely managing to get his words out. Silver lifts his upper body back upright, ready for round two. "You're good, I'll hand you that. It's a shame we must be enemies."
"Must we?" Those words had Arsonal taken aback, he wasn't sure where Silver was taking this approach. "We both want the same thing, even if our values are different. Peace in our time… or in both my times… regardless, we don't have to fight this out. We can talk, then maybe we can come to an understanding." Arsonal heeded his words, but he was conflicted about where his standing would be then. His loyalty was to the Abyss Voyagers, but he wasn't heartless. He considered Silver's words as input to the Voyager's idealization.
"What's going on here?" Arsonal froze, stricken with fear. He inched his head to look behind him, and there was Harrow, staring at both him and Silver with a nightmarish gaze. Even Silver is shocked with distress. The fight was even before, but with Harrow nonchalantly impending in on this situation, Silver was going to get overwhelmed shortly. A crack in the ceiling from the fire forms and soon collapses. This was his escape. Taking Omega's head with him, Silver flies through the hole in the ceiling and exits the base. Harrow doesn't seem to care and instead nudges Arsonal's shoulder with her elbow. "Come on, we have work to do."
G.U.N. HQ: Outside the Base
Shadow has escaped the base, strolling Rouge in the stretcher away from the deathtrap that once was a place of comfort. A soft whirring comes up behind him, to which he quickly reacts, ready to fight whatever was coming his way. But he soon calms down as he sees Silver approaching him. "What are you doing here? Where's Tower?" Silver bows his head down.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what happened to him." Silver shows Shadow Omega's head. "He distracted me long enough."
*YOU MAY HAVE DEFEATED ME, BUT MY IRRITATING VOICE BOX WILL VANQUISH YOUR EARDRUMS.* Omega heckled.
"I'd like to remove his virus and get him a new body, but-"
"Now is not the time. Take him, but we're going to a safe house where they can't find us. Rouge is still out, but hopefully, she'll stabilize soon."
"Well, you and I can search for a way to fix Omega while Dr. Solace helps Rouge. By the way, where is she?" Shadow solemnly looked to the ground, his silence was enough to answer the question. "Oh no. No that can't be."
"I don't have much time left either, but we have to wait for a way to fight back effectively. I'm sorry, but at this moment, we lost." Shadow and Silver look out to Station Square. They watch as G.U.N. helicopters and jets fly above the city. Tanks and soldiers marched through the streets, suppressing civilians who interfered with their takeover.
Deep Space
"Ship log…number… oh forget it." Stranded in the middle of space, the Egg Mobile drifted out into the void. Eggman, somehow still alive after that unreal explosion, was stuck and hopeless by himself. "I really thought I had him this time. I had a YEAR to prove my strength to him, but he still manages to pull some ridiculous miracle. How am I doing? Well, things are going great. I'm out of food and water, I think the heater is busted, and all I have left are these worthless broken shards from that traitor." Layed scattered across his dashboard were the broken pieces of the warp topaz. "To the person who finds my skeleton and this message, at least tell everyone I died a dignified death." Eggman reclines his seat and stares up into the stars. His eyes doze off, ready to rest, maybe for the last time. Although he talked about dying a glorious death, he wasn't closed off to the idea of peacefully passing away. At least that annoying hedgehog was there to give him a mouthful. However, it wasn't over. A bright light shines at Eggman, causing him to shield his eyes. At a closer look, Eggman realizes that he is gazing at a pair of spotlights. The spotlights are from a small cargo ship with a bulky hull. "I'm saved!" Eggman screams with joy. "I'm getting out of here!" The cargo ship is outfitted with a tractor beam that sucks the Egg Mobile closer to the bottom of the hull. Blast doors open and the Egg Mobile enters the ship.
With Eggman inside the ship, he quickly brainstorms ideas to get back to his home. The door leading to the hauling room slowly opens. At this point, it didn't matter to Eggman who saved him, as he was planning on betraying them anyway to take control of the ship. As he schemes, the person who saved him reveals themselves. The reveal causes Eggman's mustache to droop in fear. "Hello, doctor." Vunlter greets the madman. "Surprised to see me?" Eggman was internally freaking out. He had just gained his freedom from her, and now it was all for nothing. "I'm so happy to see you again. How was your battle with Sonic?" Eggman remains silent. "Hmm, not good I take it. Very well, I have room for you in my ship here, but I'm just a teeny tiny bit upset with how you went behind my back. I'm willing to forgive you if you can make it up with one of your great inventions of course." Eggman was back where he started, helpless to stand up for himself. But for now, he can give himself time. He thought of maybe one thing that might appease Vulnter.
"I-I-It's currently broken, but I think it will suffice." Eggman hands over the shards of the warp topaz to Vulnter.
"So he didn't make it out. That's a shame. I guess this works for now, but I expect more to compensate later."
"Don't you have that runt to chase down? What happened to all of that?" Eggman barked at Vulnter.
"Relax, I have it covered." Vulnter walks over to her computer positioned on the wall of the room. With a press of a key, she sends the signal of a tracking device to a contact named 'James'.
Orbit of the Planet
Team Sonic was just outside the atmosphere of their home. They were ready to head back. "It sure is nice being back." Knuckles commented. While Sonic and Knuckles were anxious to get home, Tails was for another reason. In his mind, he kept thinking of one thing he saw back at the space station. He lifts up his wristwatch and scrolls through the list of code he downloaded from the mainframe there. He taps on a line and looks through the text. 'Operation: Windup Voyage. Time: D:00-H:00-M:00-S:12' The countdown was nearly complete, and Tails still hadn't figured out what it all meant. Whatever it was, it was happening in the next twelve seconds. Tails nervously watches the time tick down to zero. He holds his breath, waiting for anything to happen. He is relieved at first, but a loud boom vibrates the shuttle they're in. All of Team Sonic look outside the shuttle and see it come into view. A massive freighter with heavy weaponry and an invoking presence of power orbits the atmosphere of the planet. The Abyss Voyager's main battle frigate was here. 'High Colossus' was back.
To be continued…
What a way to end on a cliffhanger. This was a really fun chapter to write, and personally my favorite so far. With that being said, I am pleased to announce that this chapter marks the halfway point of the story. That's right, we have much more to go, and things only get more intense and dark from here on out. This arc coming up was the main concept point I had for starting this story. Essentially, what if G.U.N. took over the world? It all leads to this, and I'm so excited to get on with the next chapter. One more thing. A thank you to those following this story, and those leaving reviews. You give me the fuel for me to write more about this and improve my work. And this is all for my first fanfiction too! I feel gracious, and I intend to finish this all the way it is headed.
