Chapter 18: Shadow
At Resistance HQ, the heroes wait for Sam's return from the mission and what he has to report. But everyone is in for a surprise. Tails flies in with a big smile on his face.
"SONIC!" Tails shouted
"Tails!" Sonic runs up to his best friend and hugs him tight as Tails does the same. Tails does his best to not cry in front of his older brother figure. Sonic couldn't help but feel the same, fearing something would have happened to him.
"My gosh. I'm so happy, yet so worried. I thought you were gone, Sonic. I'm so sorry. I wish I could've done more for you."
"Tails. You worry too much. I promise you I'm fine. It wasn't quite the dream hotel above the Death Egg. And it wasn't your fault. None of it is. We're gonna turn things around with your help."
Sam comes in the base after Tails, ready to report.
"Hey guys. I found this in a bush close to the lab. I've never seen it before." Sam holds up one of the Phantom Ruby prototypes in his hand. Everyone is mesmerized by it, as most of them seem to recognize it.
"I remember those. Shadow brought one of those back with him before it exploded." Rouge stated.
"And there were some worn by Zavok, Shadow, Chaos and probably Metal Sonic. When I kicked Zavok's butt, it shattered." Sonic said.
"And I have found one gem similar to that but in a different shape. It is the one attached to the chest of the masked evil being named Infinite." Gemerl projects the image.
"I think I may have made him drop one of those during the fight without noticing." Silver realized. "Good thing the kid noticed it first."
"That could be handy to us. Maybe I can try to run diagnostics on it. I may need more info though. But that's not the only thing we should worry about. We fought Eggman in Emerald Hill and he said that he has some sort of plan to wipe us all out in three days." Tails told everyone.
"A lot of things can happen in that time." Sonic said.
"Three days, huh? Okay, I could laugh at Eggman's plans like I usually do, but considering he's conquered the world, it's serious. What is this plan of his?" Knuckles asked.
Before anyone else could take a guess, they get a call. It's from the G.U.N commander Abraham Towers.
"Commander Knuckles. I apologize for interrupting. But we got a huge problem. Our troops have spotted Shadow. He's ripping through the barricades and we're requesting some assistance." Abraham said.
Sonic is rather a bit mad, remembering Shadow is working for Eggman. Though he doesn't know why.
"Shadow. Haven't seen him in six months. Last time I did, he was working for Eggman." Sonic said in anger.
"I don't get it. Why would Shadow help the enemy. It doesn't make sense." Knuckles is confused.
"Maybe he's being controlled by that strange power that Eggman and Infinite are using." Silver guessed.
"Well, whatever the reason, I'll find him. Where is Shadow now?" Sonic asked.
"He's heading towards Westopolis. Sonic, I may need your help on this one. You think you can catch him? You're the fastest one." Towers said.
"Oh, you bet. I want answers. Gotta juice!"
Sonic speeds off to Westopolis to confront Shadow. And hopefully find out what's going on with him and get answers from him.
Close to Westopolis, Sonic stands on a building. He sees the majority of the city on fire, and most of it wrecked. And in front of him, are plenty of Death Egg robots that are three times the size of the regular one Sonic once fought aboard the Death Egg. He tightens his fists in anger as he looks at what Eggman has done to the world while he was locked up for six months. This looks almost exaqctly like what he saw in his nightmare, but he would have to put that aside and not let that distract him.
"What the heck?! An army of Death Egg robots?!" Vector surprised.
"Eggman must be mass-producing them now! But there's no telling where they're coming from!" Knuckles said.
"Hurry, Sonic! We can keep them in check! But we don't know for how long!" Silver said.
"That'll work. I'll find Shadow and be back in no time!" Sonic hung up. "Eggman. For what you did to this world that makes everyone peaceful and happy. I swear, if it's the last thing I do, I will make sure you will pay for what you've done."
Sonic launches himself forward and jumps off the roof. He lands and boosts forward while quick stepping, sliding under the debris that are being thrown at him. He boosts past a falling debris that nearly landed on his head and jumps off a ramp and descends down a building before running on one straight down. Sonic avoids lasers from the Death Egg Robots as he runs around a loop de loop and homing attacks a few bombers and spinners before dashing forward running up a vertical slope, jumps and grinds on a rail and Sonic goes in a spiral path while grinding and boosting past some Egg Pawns and motobugs. He hits a spring and grabs a zipline and heads up, homing attacks a spinner and grabs another zipline and zooms forward. He runs down a couple of slopes and a steep hill while avoiding more egg walkers as they try to fire missiles at him. Sonic spin dashes into every single one of them, blowing them up before going on the main path. Up ahead, he sees Shadow… but he's just standing there.
"Alright, Shadow. What's the big deal here? Why are you working for Eggman again?"
Shadow doesn't answer. Instead he air dashes at Sonic and jumps to kick him. Sonic grabs his ankle and throws him back.
"Fine. You don't wanna talk. Then I'll just have to beat ya like I did plenty of times before."
Sonic runs at Shadow, ready to attack. He jumps and does a front flip kick, which Shadow blocks, but Sonic does a backflip kick to his chest, sending him up and Sonic jumps and does a downward kick, sending him down. Sonic and Shadow exchange kicks, with each one blocked. Shadow trips Sonic and kicks him backwards. The blue blur recovers quickly and charges at Shadow, but he zooms past Sonic while the two stare at each other. Sonic quickly noticed the same gem on his vest, just like Zavok.
Sonic: Time to play tag. And I guess I'm it.
Sonic starts chasing after Shadow again as he follows closely. He runs down a loop de loop and he sees egg bird planes chasing after the blue blur. They start dropping small bombs on him, but Sonic boosts and quick steps to dodge them. Shadow then teleports behind Sonic and attempts to boost into him for a kick. But Sonic dodges it and does two swing kicks to the back of the head. Shadow takes it and continues onward. Sonic boosts off another ramp and runs on a long, big roof. Shadow elbows and backhands Sonic in the back. Sonic quickly regains his momentum and continues running.
Sonic jumps and elbows Shadow in the head, who retaliates by punching him across the head. Sonic once more recovers, does a spin attack on Shadow, sending him far. The blue hero grinds on rails while avoiding his Chaos Spear attacks and more egg bird planes firing at him. Sonic jumps off the rail and boosts into several Egg Pawns. He runs down a long building while avoiding Shadow's attacks. As they reach the ground, Shadow fires a Chaos Spear at Sonic. He jumps, turns into a ball and spins in circles and creates a small, blue tornado. The Chaos Spear is caught in the tornado and it reflects back at Shadow. He dodges, but Sonic comes in boosting into Shadow, cracking his prototype ruby and punches him across the face, sending Shadow far back to a dead end, finally defeating him.
"Tag! You're it!"
Sonic approaches Shadow as the latter begins to wake up. As he recovers, G.U.N arrives with more than dozens of troops, ready to contain Shadow if necessary. Towers is there as well. As Shadow gestures to his head, the prototype on his vest breaks into pieces and Sonic and Towers see his eyes becoming normal again.
"Ugh…. What? What just happened? Where am I? How did I get here?" Shadow asked.
"That's what we wanna know. Why did you attack us? And why are you helping Eggman and Infinite?" Sonic demanded.
"Eggman… Infinite."
Shadow gets up and sees himself in Westopolis and he sees Sonic and Commander Towers, all staring at him.
"Infinite. Now I remember him. He's that masked Jackal Leader. The one I took down. The same one who attacked Omega and beat him into submission, and attacked me."
"Wait? So you're saying that you didn't willingly join up with the empire? Do you at least remember what happened?"
"It's all….. Coming back to me. Piece by piece. I remember. I was there. At the pyramid base. I went there to find Omega. But I found Infinite. He was powerful. And fast. Faster than me. He stopped me before I could use Chaos Control. He took the emerald from my hands. And trapped me in an illusion… where I found myself back on the ARK. Where I was born."
"You mean he teleported you to the ARK?" Abraham Towers asked.
"No. It's still coming to me." Shadow shook his head. "I remember now. Infinite…. He has powers of augmented reality. While I was under their control, I could hear and see everything. Eggman found a gem called the Phantom Ruby. He discovered it outside his base and from what he said, whenever he thinks of something such as EggmanLand, or robots, his thoughts come to life. He made replicas of it. Prototypes."
"So that's what was going on. Infinite's powers, and the other ones you and Zavok had. And the robots he summoned like Eggman did. And all of those deadly traps and clones Infinite came up with." Sonic realized.
"Infinite calls them phantoms. They have mass and form. But no heart or soul. Their powers are just as formidable as the originals. Such as when he can copy himself, or me, or anyone else who joined the doctor"
"Tails remembered examining something like that. And Sam, a new rookie and buddy of mine, brought one back. Tails is currently running diagnostics on it. And it might also explain why the younger me was brought here. But he's still remembering."
"Hmm. The Phantom Ruby must have an effect on space and time. Infinite can create unlimited kinds of phantoms. He had been ordered by the doctor to destroy all the samples, to keep the Resistance and G.U.N from using them. Because only one with a strong sense of will and inner courage can activate it and it records their DNA. And I'm assuming this Sam found it."
"When I fought Infinite a day ago, he had spiked maces, lasers and such. Now when I got hit, while they weren't real, the pain was." Sonic described.
"Exactly." Shadow nodded. "Sonic….. Thanks. I was hoping you'd fight me."
"Heh. I knew you'd say that. I like a good fight nowadays! And I'm ready to get back at Infinite when the time is right. But I can't beat him alone. I'm gonna need all the help we can get. What do you say?"
Sonic offers Shadow his hand. Shadow scoffs, but smirks a bit. He grabs Sonic's hand and shakes it. Shadow nods to Towers and approaches him.
"That day. When I saw Infinite. When he trapped me in the illusion. I was not alone. I saw myself. And I saw the professor… and I saw Maria. He used my own worst memories against me. Even up to this day, I still miss them. I failed them. I promised Maria I would protect the planet." Shadow described the traumatising event to Towers.
"Shadow. Listen. It isn't your fault. Eggman and Infinite did all of this. Not you. And I get that feeling. Maria was like a sister to me. And the professor was a good friend. I was wrong about him being insane. I doubted you highly. And I was wrong about you. You're still a good hedgehog, Shadow. Maria would never be disappointed in you. I chose to redeem myself by asking you to join G.U.N. What will you do now?" Towera asked.
Shadow listened to Towers very carefully. He remembered that they hated each other, though it was one-sided on Towers' part. He accused Shadow of killing Maria, but spared him after realizing Maria and Shadow were close friends, and Shadow had amnesia at the time.
"I know what I must do. I will fight like I always have. I have saved the planet from Black Doom, the ARK, helped stop Metal Sonic. And now, I'm going to help fight Eggman and get payback at Infinite for using me."
"Sweet! I say we get started!" Sonic said with excitement.
"Sonic. Where is Tails? I need to talk to him. I may have an idea about something."
Note: Yup. An actual fight between Sonic and Shadow, instead of a replica. It would have been really cool to see that in the game. And in Westopolis too. The notorious first stage of Shadow the Hedgehog. Again, replicas are not gonna be used the majority of the time. I fixed Shadow's plothole where he disappeared for six months for no reason while a clone of him fights beside Eggman and doesn't go to Rouge or anyone. That part I didn't get.