Chapter 5: Sonic vs. Shadow Round 1
San Francisco, CA 6:45 PM
Sonic was hiding from the military in an alleyway, panting and hiding from the soldiers. It had been a very long day and he needed to catch his breath; so that's exactly what he did after he caught his breath for a moment.
'I think I lost them. I need to find out who caused this madness and they think I stole this gem from the bank,' thought Sonic to himself as he ran his gloved hand through his messy quills.
He glanced up at the sky, where there were a couple of clouds. The moon was rising now and the shadows were creeping towards him. "Ugh," sighed Sonic as he leaned back against a dumpster. "I mean, seriously, why did they come after me?" He asked aloud.
Annoyed, Sonic stood up straight and dusted himself off. "The game of tag is boring. I'm outta here!"
With a thud, a large robot appeared in front of Sonic; causing him to jump into a nearby dumpster.
"Huh?! What the heck?!" said Sonic as he stared at the military robot in front of him; not believing his eyes. It was F-6t BIG FOOT.
"Hmm. Finally decided to show up, eh? Okay, bring it on!" Sonic replied with determination as he raised a fist.
F-6t fired lasers at Sonic and he dodged every one of them. Sonic smiled in confidence as he jumped back into action.
"Oh yeah! This will be fun!" said Sonic excitedly. He then punched F6t in the glass with all the strength he could muster while still dodging the laser beams. Sonic curled himself into a ball and did a homing attack on F6t's head with a small explosion. F6t flew backward into a wall, leaving a dent and knocking him unconscious.
"That should teach 'im!" Sonic smirked triumphantly.
Sonic felt a presence behind him and whirled around ready to fight the intruder. He frowned when he saw it was another hedgehog who looked like him, but he was different. His fur was black and had red stripes on his arms, legs, and quills. He had white fur on his chest, his quills spread outwardly, he had white and red gloves matching his shoes, and he had rings on each wrist and ankle.
He was standing atop the defeated robot and looking down at Sonic with a smirk. Sonic narrowed his eyes and growled menacingly. "Who are you?! And why do you look like me?!" demanded Sonic.
The mysterious hedgehog laughed, "You can ask me questions, but I can't answer any of yours until your next turn in the game." He picked out the green gem from his fur and held it up high above his head. "It all starts with this... A jewel containing the ultimate power."
Sonic's eyes widened and he stepped forward eagerly. "That's the... Chaos Emerald!" he exclaimed. "Now I know what's going on. The military has mistaken me for the likes of you. So... where do you think you're going with that Emerald?" He asked, walking towards the mystery hedgehog slowly.
The mysterious hedgehog said nothing, but his smirk only grew wider.
"Say something, you fake hedgehog!" Sonic ran toward the ebony hedgehog, who jumped over the top of the dead robot and landed several feet away from the black hedgehog, holding the Chaos Emerald close to his chest. With one swift movement, he controlled the power of the Emerald.
"Chaos Control!" he yelled. Suddenly, he teleported directly in front of Sonic, making him stumble backward. The speed was so fast and powerful that Sonic couldn't see anything around him. Suddenly, he found himself back on solid ground, gasping for air.
"So, you're gonna try to stop me with a little trick?" questioned Sonic as he glared at the unknown hedgehog.
"Well, you'll never beat me with it!" he declared as he threw a punch at the blue hedgehog. Sonic blocked the hit and retaliated with a punch aimed at the ebony hedgehog's face, however, the black hedgehog dodged it by teleporting several feet backward. When Sonic tried to follow, he found himself being pulled through the air in the direction the ebony hedgehog went. Sonic gritted his teeth as he continued trying to regain control of his movements.
'Damn, he's fast. No, that's not his speed, he just used the Emerald to warp,' Sonic thought. The Mysterious hedgehog smirked at Sonic's frustration.
'Just who is he? And where did he come?' Sonic thought in confusion.
"My name is Shadow. I'm the world's Ultimate Lifeform. There's no time for games... farewell." Shadow proclaimed dramatically before he disappeared once more into thin air.
"Hey, wait a minute!" shouted Sonic, but he was gone again. Sonic growled as he turned around to face the empty alleyway once again. "That guy was messing with my head, wasn't he?" Sonic complained as he rubbed his forehead. He then stopped and looked up at the sky; which was completely dark now. "And he took the Chaos Emerald, too..." Sonic said quietly.
The searchlights were on Sonic, the police, and the G.U.N military were surrounding him, all of them had their guns pointed at Sonic.
"Freeze! Don't move! Stay where you are! Keep your hands in the air!" shouted one of the officers.
'Damn, not again...' Sonic thought dejectedly. He sighed loudly as he closed his eyes in defeat. "You got me, guys," he said with exasperation. He was surrounded by police officers and soldiers, and he knew he wouldn't win. Not against them anyway, since they outnumbered him. He was surrounded by armed soldiers and he didn't want to risk his life.
*Meanwhile at Tails' house*
Amy told Tails what happened to Sonic, who seemed quite upset and disappointed about it. They both sighed in annoyance as they heard the news. They had been hoping the blue hedgehog would take care of it on his own. Tails was starting to wonder if Sonic really was able to do it without their help, after all. "We have to save Sonic," Amy remarked.
Tails nodded in agreement. "You're right, but how are we supposed to get Sonic out of the clutches of the military? He never commits the crime of stealing gems from the bank." He looked at Amy with worry written clearly across his face.
"Is Sonic actually guilty?" Amy frowned.
"Well… We don't know yet. Even if he's innocent, the government is keeping him under wraps because he's a wanted criminal," said Tails.
"But he never does that! Why else would the police be looking for him?" argued Amy. She had been wanting to find Sonic ever since she first met him. She had gotten her hopes up that she might actually be able to rescue him from those stupid criminals.
"No idea. But he has probably already run somewhere else. Let me check my computer for Sonic's location…" Tails said as he turned his chair to the computer table in the corner of the room. "There he is, he's in Prison Island - "
Before Tails could continue, he suddenly gasped. He quickly shut his laptop off and looked at Amy, who looked equally shocked and concerned, her blue eyes wide with shock.
"… Amy?" Tails said tentatively.
"What's wrong? Did you find something?" asked Amy with curiosity.
"I think I found a way to rescue Sonic. If we ride on Tornado, it might give him the push he needs to escape… Do you trust me?" asked Tails, taking Amy's hand in his. Amy nodded hesitantly.
"Sonic was taken to the Prison Island by the army. He may not even realize that he has to escape there, since he doesn't know that he's already been captured… But the army doesn't want anyone getting in their way," said Tails.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go save Sonic!" urged Amy.
Tails nodded and told Amy to follow him as he ran out of his laboratory. They made their way out and started running to Tails' Tornado. They rode for a while on Tornado, flying towards Prison Island.
"Do you know where we're going to land?" asked Amy as she tightened her grip on the dashboard.
"Yeah. I checked my computer," said Tails. "There are some coordinates in Prison Island that lead us straight to Sonic!"
"Really!? What are those coordinates exactly?" asked Amy, slightly confused.
"A hidden prison inside the prison island. Only authorized people in the prison can enter, but nobody else can enter either," explained Tails.
"Sounds dangerous…" commented Amy.
"Trust me. It's worth it if we save Sonic. Just keep in mind, this won't be easy. We don't know where they've put Sonic, so we need to be careful," warned Tails.
Amy nodded, still nervous, but determined to get Sonic back. She gripped tighter onto the dashboard.
"Let's hope Sonic is still alive and unharmed," said Tails seriously as he drove his Tornado. "Hang on, Sonic. We're coming."
*Meanwhile at Space Colony ARK*
Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot came to the ARK that Shadow told him to come to. He stood in front of a large computer monitor that showed the same video feed from earlier. Shadow was standing next to the console controlling the holographic screen.
"Alright, Shadow. We're here like you told us. So, what is this place?" asked Eggman curiously.
"This is the Space Colony ARK. This is our secret base. The scientists who work here use their minds to create things that aren't possible by themselves... Well, at least not by humans. These experiments have created weapons that can destroy a planet."
"That's amazing!" Eggman stated excitedly. "And why do you need seven Chaos Emeralds in order to create these weapons?"
"These weapons were created by another scientist... Dr. Eggman, you remember the Chaos Emeralds, right?" asked Shadow.
"Of course, I remember them! They're valuable jewels that contain powers beyond the imagination. It would make sense that
they would be very valuable to you. Is that all you needed? Or do you want to show me some other interesting things, as well?" asked Eggman.
"Actually, yes. One last thing. There is someone here that you should meet. He's called Sonic. I don't know much about him, but he's a troublemaker, that's for sure. He was taken to the Prison Island," said Shadow.
Eggman stood silent for a moment, then he burst laughed evilly. "Ahh, well done, Shadow! Your little plan worked perfectly. He is no longer under our control, and he is no longer spoil to our plans. Once we have retrieved the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic, all will be good," smiled Eggman evilly. "I believe the mission will finally be completed once I have collected all the emeralds."
"Looks like Shadow actually did it," Cubot said to Orbot in disbelief. Orbot agreed with him.
"Yeah, he really did it," said Orbot as he nodded his head eagerly.
"So, how will we proceed to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Eggman.
Shadow placed the green Emerald in the center of the control board before answering, "It has been deactivated for some time. To reactivate, we need 6 more Emeralds. That way, the entire planet will be consumed by chaos energy. The Earth will be wiped clean of its existence, and the world could be yours."
Eggman grinned evilly, "Sounds like a plan. I like the way you think, Shadow! I will get the Chaos Emeralds, use the machine to dominate the world, and build a legacy of my own!"
"Do you really think it will be that easy?" asked a female voice somewhere, Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot looked around trying to see where that voice came from. But Shadow looked up at the ceiling there was a female bat hanging upside down.
"Huh? Who's that chick?" asked Cubot as he noticed her.
She landed gracefully and walked closer to Eggman as he frowned and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.
"I've got a great idea. How about making a deal?" she asked.
"A deal? What kind of deal?" replied Eggman.
"When you grabbed that huge Emerald, you said something about a reaction," she said. " A reaction that it may have with the Master Emerald. Now if you could let me borrow that radar, I may be able to help you. What do you think?"
Orbot and Cubot looked at each other in confusion. They were sure that the bat must have seen or heard something that could help them in the search for Chaos Emeralds.
"What do you mean?" asked Eggman suspiciously.
The bat smiled smugly. "Oh, you'll see. Trust me when I say you'll be grateful later," she chuckled.
"And who are you supposed to be?" asked Eggman.
"I'm Rogue the Bat, but you can call me Rogue. I am a treasure hunter that specializes in all kinds of jewels," she held a blue gem in her hands.
"That's..." Eggman trailed off in astonishment.
"...a blue Chaos Emerald that Shadow has," said Orbot.
"Now, are you interested in helping me find these emeralds or not?" asked. Rogue.
"Very well. Let us begin searching," said Eggman.
