A/N: Happy New Year! I'm so sorry this chapter came in so late, I was going through a bit of writer's block a few times, even at the very end of the chapter. But I'm back with a new chapter of Chaos on Earth!
By the way, how was everyone's Christmas? What did you all get?
I saw the trailers for the Mario Movie, and I gotta say, I was a little skeptical at first, but now I'm interested in seeing how it's gonna be in theaters. I heard some people say it may be almost as good as the Mario movie.
Also, I haven't played Sonic Frontiers or watched Sonic Prime, but I gotta say, they look really good so far! Maybe soon I can try and watch Prime.
I would like to thank TopGun1986, grimmangel108, marktwainhatesfoxes, smolinamarya21, Apollo Marksman09, juliomt2004, horus100, The Super Blackwing, UltraSonicStudios, dianapinto19041, S-Lady-S, and PhatCatFurball16 for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
Shoutout of the chapter goes to my friends in OliviaGames1208's Discord server!
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
15 Reviews
dbehi1
No, Eggman would never stoop that low. To quote him in episode 67, "It's one thing to take them prisoner and threaten them, but when you actually hurt somebody, that's going too far."
GuardianDragon98
Thanks! Since Sonic was in prison, and Sonic was in prison for months on the Death Egg, I wanted to expand on his trauma a bit and make this event a trigger for it.
Super duper waffles
Yeah! They were villains that deserved more attention than just the one episode, which is why I'm glad Ian Flynn gave them more attention when he made the SONIC X organization for the comics.
What party is President Remerson with? Since I kinda don't want to be too political with my stories, I'm leaving it to the reader's imagination.
Hmm, that's a great question! If Sonic didn't exist, then who would replace him in Smash? Sonic first appeared in the Smash Bros franchise in 2007 with Brawl, so I would say maybe either Klonoa or Spyro. Personally, I would love to see Klonoa in Smash.
That would probably open up a lot of questions about alternate universes, and how the real Earth's universe is similar to this Earth's universe. And also, sometimes I think of what if the Sonic universe is real, and likewise, what if our universe is only fiction in another universe. That's a scary thought...
Ushigomesan123
Kidnapping Chris wasn't very nice, Shadow :(
blazeknight01
Those are a lot of consequences for Eggman blowing up the moon. I bet he didn't think things through when he fired that laser!
Animation Adventures
It's all good, I've been meaning to read more fanfics too. Lately I got to reading fanfics for the first time in maybe a year, and my new favorite is "Fall of the Status Quo" by Mama-Qwerty.
That's a great question that I didn't really think about. "Shadow" was taking direct orders from Eggman, and Eggman knew when Sonic was out on a run, which is when "Shadow" made his move. However, he never did it when Sonic was staying in one place, like at Matt's apartment or the Oval Office. Eggman gave thought to when he made his moves. I might add that into the story itself in a future revision.
Yeah, the swan boat thing doesn't fly by me. No trained professional guard stationed on that island would look at that boat and say, "Oh, these guys must be going on a date, they're totally not gonna break our most secure prisoner out of his cell." And on top of that, if swan boats are for dates, wouldn't they think it's weird for Chris and Tanaka to be in it?
Orbot and Cubot are some of the only characters in this story that get fourth wall rights :)
It's okay, I'm feeling a lot better now. I hope your stories have been going well!
PowerKey
Yeah... Sometimes, guilt is a worse feeling than fear. Chris felt that first-hand back at the end of Season 1.
BenjaminAnderson
Hi Ben! That's a lot of questions, so I'll answer them one at a time:
1: I'm doing good, and as I write this I'm chilling in a VC with my friends.
2: I've been checking out some new music from NCS and Monstercat lately.
3: I was just chilling at home this Halloween.
4: You bet I'm gonna see the Mario movie!
5: Yeah, I think I watched all of Xonic S in one go, it was really funny and Hieifireshadow did a great job as Tails! It's so different hearing her Tails voice in a setting other than SonicSong182's Ask the Sonic Heroes.
6: Oh, not yet! I still need to watch that!
I heard of The Rollin Nolan and Sonic the Abridgehog! I've been meaning to watch that for the longest time, so as soon as I can, I should get to watching that.
CreativeKitty975
It's really rare to see Sonic so helpless and emotional, but this is one of those moments where it triggers intense flashbacks. I really loved writing Amy and Sonic's moment together, I really love reading and writing heartwarming moments like that.
And yeah, I agree that Chris and Tanaka didn't have a real purpose on the island, since everyone else was already rescuing Sonic. But Chris was still a huge part of the adventure, which is why I had Eggman capturing him again. Tanaka, however, doesn't really play any role in the adventure as a whole :(
Five-Chosen
I really like that theory! While it's still a secret as to how the Chaotix and the others made it to Earth, I will say that you'll definitely see more of Shadow later in this story!
And I really love your alternate universe scenario, by the way! :)
Qwerty123as
Technically yes, Cream can be considered a Freedom Fighter, but she's not one of the core members of the Freedom Fighters here.
gregorian12
Yeah, I heard about that! The official Sonic Twitter really meant it when they said everything is canon!
denisegalante1009
I still don't know a lot about them, because I haven't read any of the issues past 49. I hear they are very good characters, but I want to get to know them a bit more before I consider writing with them.
Rily Boothe
Probably not, but the Chaotix will still appear in the Metarex Saga.
OliviaGames1208
Hey, welcome back Olivia! Long time no see! And it's okay, the best reviews always come from the heart :)
Chapter 34
Episode 36
Shadow's Lament! The Hunt For The Egg Carrier
The Search
Matt's apartment – Thu December 23; 10:10 AM CDT – Sonic's POV
As soon as we got back to Matt's apartment, the first thing we did was turn on the news.
There wasn't a lot of time for me or anyone else to tell everyone what happened, but we still managed to get them up to speed on the basics. While they already knew that Shadow kidnapped Chris, the news that he was caught up in the explosion took them all off guard. In fact, it was enough to bring Ella and Cream to tears, and even Chuck and Matt were almost at that point themselves. I was sure I was the only one who was desperately clinging to the possibility that he might have survived.
But when we switched on the news, the first face we saw was the commissioner of GUN Division Delta, hosting a press conference.
"…is being looked into at this time," he was saying. "All security devices were disabled shortly before the explosion, so at this time, we have no footage of the raid. However, it is confirmed by eyewitnesses that an explosive device was set in the facility's primary ammunition warehouse. Uh, we can also confirm that the recently detained prisoner Sonic the Hedgehog has escaped, marking the very first successful breakout from Superior in its nearly 40 years of operation. Eggman was also seen at the island, and he was successfully warded off by our robots stationed there, but, uh… we can't yet determine his motive; although, he is allegedly responsible for setting the bomb. Uh, as for all the personnel stationed there at the time of this morning's incident, we at GUN have done an official tally, and we can confirm that no lives were lost in the explosion."
The commissioner kept on going with his report, but I tapped out after that when he started talking about technical GUN talk. I shifted my position from where I was reclining on the back of the couch.
"But he didn't say anything about Chris…" I realized. "Or Rouge!"
"Oh yeah, Rouge was in there too!" Tails said. "Maybe she escaped as well. She's pretty good at getting away, so I'm not too worried about her." He sighed, and his tails dropped to either side of him. "It's Chris I'm really worried about…"
Amy slowly nodded. "Yeah… Either GUN didn't see him in there… or…"
I sat up. "But he's gotta be okay though, that guy said everyone survived!" I tried to point out.
Amy sighed. "Sonic, I don't think you believe your own words," she admitted. "Like… if GUN knew something about Chris, they would have said something by now."
And the wind went right out of my sails again. I hated to admit it myself, but she was right. The commissioner was probably just talking about GUN personnel. It was wishful thinking.
"But what if– What if he didn't get killed in that explosion?" Tails asked hopefully. "What if he survived?"
"Tails…" I started to say, "you saw how big that explosion was, he couldn't have– Unless… Maybe–"
"Shadow! He could have come in there and teleported him away just in time!" Matt said out of the blue, before stopping. "Assuming he was there with you guys to begin with."
"That's… actually possible…" Tails said, tapping his chin in thought. "But–"
"No," Amy said out of nowhere, and we looked at her in surprise. "I don't have peace of mind. 'Cuz if Shadow did use Chaos Control to 'rescue' him," she said, using quote fingers as emphasis, "then he probably took him to Eggman, and–"
"He better not lay a finger on Chris," I said, trying not to get angry. "But… it's gonna be okay, Ames. If Shadow took him, that means he's still out there alive and kicking, which means we still got a chance at getting him back."
Tails nodded. "Yeah, but Eggman could be literally anywhere out there."
"Like maybe a certain space station?" I brought up.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tanaka blinking in surprise. "Pardon?"
Tails gasped. "Oh yeah! Space Colony ARK!"
"Space Colo– So this is where the 'going to space' part comes in," Chuck said in realization. I nodded.
"Yeah. So about Space Colony ARK, I was–" I dropped my voice. "Uh, I'm kinda not supposed to tell you guys this, but I was talkin' with the President about it yesterday, and he said it just… appeared out of nowhere, like, it wasn't there a couple days ago."
"Hm… Chaos Control?" Chuck guessed, and Tails and I looked at him. "Because if it came from Mobius, then the only way it could have gotten there is with Chaos Control– The interdimensional kind, the same way Angel Island got here."
"Um, that could be possible…?" Tails thought aloud. "But Angel Island got pulled here because Chaos Control happened here, and I'm still not sure how that happened."
"That sounds really complicated," Ella commented, having calmed down a bit.
"Believe me, it is, even for me," Tails replied.
"Guys, look!" Matt alerted, pointing at the TV. The commissioner was still talking, but what he was saying next got my full attention. Fortunately, Matt rewound the TV so we wouldn't miss what he was saying.
"Is there still a manhunt for Sonic now that he's out of prison?" a reporter was asking.
"Yes, the manhunt for Sonic the Hedgehog has been relaunched following his escape," the commissioner was saying. "Additional manhunts have been launched for Miles 'Tails' Prower and Amy Rose on account of, uh, federal trespassing, as well as their direct involvement in Sonic's breakout. Uh, Cream the Rabbit is being added as a person of interest as well because she's a close contact of the aforementioned suspects. However, uh, the Thorndykes are considered innocent at this time, unless it is found that they're intentionally harboring Sonic and his friends. I understand it pains much of the nation that our world-renowned heroes have turned to the opposite side of the law, but we at the Guardians of the United Nations must do what must be done to uphold our infrastructural safety."
That hit all of us like a bombshell, especially my friends, and they stood rooted to the spot. Yes, they were people of interest back then, and yes, they did have police chasing them around back then just for being my friends when I was a criminal, but to hear the commissioner actually say it really hit home. I was worried for them too, and I could tell my human friends were as well.
Cream was the most frightened of us, and Ella knew this, so she went over and turned off the TV so we wouldn't be any more scared than we already were. She then sat down on the couch and reached over to Cream, who walked over, and she scooped her into her lap.
"Everything will be okay, bambino…" Ella tried to soothe, even though she herself was worried for her friends. Cheese floated over and joined in the comfort, gently hugging Cream.
"Miss Ella… Why does he think I'm a bad guy…? I didn't do anything wrong…"
It broke my heart to hear Cream say that. It was true; she didn't go with us on the breakout mission. And yet she was still considered a suspect, just for being our ally. It just went to show that GUN wasn't playing around.
"This just shows… that Earth humans don't understand us," Tails said. "And it really hurts to say this… but we still don't have enough evidence to prove it's Shadow and not you, Sonic."
"What do you mean?" Amy asked, turning to look at him. "We literally saw Shadow with our own–"
"Yeah, I know, but like, camera footage," Tails corrected himself. "If we can somehow record Shadow as Shadow and not Shadow pretending to be Sonic, then maybe–" He stopped himself. "Actually, we gotta get Chris back first thing. Then we can focus on Shadow."
"I still can't believe Chris is gone…" Ella quietly lamented. Cream let out a whimper.
"Hey, it's not like he's gone forever," I pointed out. "As long as Shadow can use Chaos Control… I'm pretty sure he just came back to get him. Eggman wouldn't be that reckless to just leave him in there."
I took a few steps toward the door, looking back at everyone. All eyes were on me.
"It's not gonna do us any good just sittin' around and mopin', so I'm gonna get a head start on finding Chris. Even if I can't get to the ARK right now, I can still find a clue over on the Egg Carrier. Don't wait up!"
"But-But Sonic, they're gonna be out there looking for you, I think you should… um… uh…"
Amy trailed off when she saw that I was unwavering, and the whole time I was relaxed and had a confident smile.
"I'm the fastest thing alive. Trust me, the cops won't even see me. Like, they'll blink and I'll be out of there before they realize what happened. Oh, and I'll call you guys if I find anything."
With that, I took off down the hall, threw open the door to the stairwell, and zipped down the stairs. I swear my feet didn't even touch the ground on my way down.
Matt's apartment – Thu December 23; 10:18 AM CDT – Third-person POV
Amy slumped back down on the couch. "So now the police are gonna be after us too," she sighed.
Chuck mumbled his agreement as he rose from the couch. "Which means I'm really sorry to say this, but the three of you can't stay here anymore… at least… not until all this blows over."
"It's okay, we weren't gonna stay here anyway," Tails told Chuck as he wandered in the direction of the door. "I mean, we can always come back when it's safe!"
"Yeah, exactly," Chuck added with a nod. Tails always looked on the bright side of things.
"Are you sure it's okay for Cream to go too?" Ella asked, feeling a bit worried. She looked from one face to the next, hoping that no matter the case, the bunny and Chao would be okay.
Cream's hands were clasped behind her back, and she was smiling brightly, to the maid's surprise.
"I'll be okay, Miss Ella!" she said. "I go on lots of adventures with my friends all the time, and they promise to keep me safe no matter what."
"Yeah, but this time we might be going in space," Tails pointed out as he leaned against the couch. "And I'm not–"
"Ooooh!" Cream cooed, her eyes twinkling. "I always wanted to go up in space and see all the pretty stars!"
Tails wanted to say that it wasn't exactly going to be like that, but he held back because he didn't want her to get disappointed if not frightened. Even though Cream was an invaluable ally in battle together with Cheese, she was still only six years old.
But the problem was, she had never been in space before. Yes, Tails had gone to the edge of space during the Phantom War, as well as last year when he destroyed E-90 Super Sweeper. This time, though, it was different. Space Colony ARK was in space. And–
"W-Wait, wait, hold on!" he exclaimed with a small gasp. "I just remembered something really important!
Chuck looked at him. "Hm?"
"I still gotta make a replica of the Chaos Emerald… just in case I need it later," Tails said.
He walked over to the kitchen counter, but since the counter was a little tall for him, he spun his tails and flew up to pick up the yellow Chaos Emerald that was up there.
"'Cuz it really came in handy last time," he said as he flew back into the living room and landed on the couch.
"Okay, that's a good idea. That's a very good idea," Chuck said. "I'll be down to help you as soon as you're ready."
"Um, I'm a bit nervous to ask this," Matt started, "but, uh… is there a way I can help out?"
Tails, Amy, and Chuck turned to look at him, all looking a bit taken aback at his unexpected request.
"Um…" Tails started fidgeting, and Matt could already see the look on his face. "I don't know how to say this, but… we're gonna be going in space most likely, and… you would… um…"
"I don't care," Matt said, determination rising in his voice. "Chris is my cousin, and… and this time I refuse to stand on the sidelines when there's a chance I can do something useful. I mean, I already finished my four years in electronics, so maybe I can help that way, I guess…?"
"Well… we're more than happy to have you come with us, Matt," Amy said, "but we kinda need the room in the X-Tornado for Chris when we come back."
"Oh yeah…" Matt realized.
"It may be for the best that you stay here and watch the house," Tanaka suggested. "Being a guardian is just as important as being in the middle of the action."
"True," Matt said. He was doing his best to not show his emotions, but that didn't stop his friends from picking up on it anyway.
"So you studied electronics?" Tails asked, and Matt nodded. "Cool! Then that means maybe there is something you can do. So if you want, see if you can go online and find out where the Egg Carrier is."
"Okay, but how do I contact you if I find it?" Matt asked.
"Umm… Here, hold on." Tails pulled his phone out from Hammerspace, then grabbed a nearby pen and memo sheet from off of Matt's desk. After glancing at his phone for a second, he wrote something on the memo sheet before setting it down on the desk.
"Okay, here's my phone number," he said. "I probably won't be able to answer it while I'm flying, but don't worry about that. Just call me as soon as you think you found it."
Matt nodded. "Okay."
On the inside, the young man felt ecstatic. This was the first time he was going to directly help his friends on their mission!
"Come on, Tails!" Amy called. Tails turned to see that she was already by the door, and Cream and Cheese were with her.
"O-Okay!" Tails said as he hurried to join them. But right as Amy was opening the door, she let out a yelp and leaped backwards. Everyone else was alerted, and they saw Knuckles standing in the doorway looking just as surprised as Amy.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were-"
"I-It's fine, Knuckles," Amy said with a slight laugh. "I just… didn't know you were… coming over now."
"Yeah, sorry I didn't tell you guys in advance," Knuckles said.
"It's okay, we're on our way out anyway. Bye guys!" Tails called behind him with a wave. He and his friends then left the room, and he closed the door behind them.
"So how'd you know where to find us?" Amy asked as the group made their way up the hall to the elevator.
"Chuck told me what happened and where you guys were staying," Knuckles shrugged. "Sorry about your house."
"It's okay Mr. Knuckles, it's not you fault," Cream said, and Knuckles smiled at her. However, she noticed that his smile looked a bit forced. "Are you okay?"
"I… got some bad news," Knuckles said.
"What happened…?" Cream wondered aloud. Cheese looked worried.
Knuckles looked from Cream to Amy to Tails, then sighed. "Eggman took the Master Emerald again."
"What?!" Amy exclaimed.
Knuckles slowly nodded. "Yeah, I got ambushed by the E-100 robots… Forgot they were still around… They tranked me and took the Master Emerald."
"Oh… I forgot about them too…" Tails said quietly. "So now we gotta get both Chris and the Master Emerald back."
Knuckles looked alarmed, and his eyes widened. "Wait, what happened to Chris?!"
"Oh yeah, did you hear what happened at Superior this morning?" Tails asked, starting to feel more urgent. He had to control himself to not run or fly ahead of the others.
Knuckles looks confused. "What's Superior…? Oh, you mean that prison island? No, not really."
"'Cuz we went there because Eggman was gonna steal some Chaos Emeralds from there, and Shadow kidnapped Chris because Eggman wanted a hostage, but then Eggman blew up the island, and I'm pretty sure Chris is now a prisoner somewhere."
"Oh…" Knuckles said quietly.
"Chao…" Cheese agreed.
"Well, I don't know why I came all the way out here… Probably because deep down, I knew I couldn't do this alone… but I'm pretty glad I did," Knuckles thought aloud as they reached the elevators, and Tails pressed the button. "So maybe if we find Chris, we'll find the Master Emerald too."
"Yeah," Amy agreed.
There was a chime as the elevator doors opened, and the four friends stepped inside, and Cheese flew in with them.
"Oh yeah, I just remembered why I came out here," Knuckles said quietly. "It's because you guys were involved, and there's also this saying that goes way back: 'Those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.'" But here Eggman's repeating it on purpose. He's manipulating everything like puppets to make sure everything happens the way he wants it to. And I'm pretty sure he's lowkey expecting us to go along with his plan so it happens one-to-one here on Earth. But it's just like you said, Tails. We're learning from the past, and therefore… staying one step ahead of him."
Tails nodded as he let Knuckles' words sink in.
"I… honestly didn't think of it that way before," Tails said.
"Yeah, you don't wanna repeat history like that," Knuckles said. "Remember what happened with Eggman and Chaos."
Amy and Tails nodded as the doors opened and they stepped outside, ready to find the Master Emerald and their friend.
Somewhere – Thu December 23; 9:21 AM CDT – Chris' POV
One moment, I was about to be blown up along with Rouge in the Superior prison… the next, I was somewhere else entirely.
I found myself in a metallic hallway, not unlike the one I was just in seconds ago, but it felt… different. It wasn't like anything I had seen in Superior in the time I was there. The other thing I noticed was that the air felt quite sterile, sanitary even, and there was an ambient hum everywhere, which was a far cry from the blaring alarms that were everywhere in Superior. It was a welcome relief. I would have thought it was soothing if it weren't for me feeling scared, not to mention uneasy in my stomach.
I had been subject to Chaos Control for the second time in the last fifteen minutes. My stomach felt a little off when I was back in Superior, but now I was feeling more than queasy. Even if it felt like an instant, being sent through time and space the way I was made for an experience that I could only describe as rubbing my eyes too hard and seeing all the colors blending together, not to mention it was coupled with a sensation that felt like falling. It all felt like a fever dream.
And on top of all that, I was still handcuffed. I was unfortunate enough that they weren't left behind in Chaos Control, so I had to find a way to get them off.
Just in case bad turned to worse, I also needed to find a trash can somewhere. So I made my way down the hall toward what looked like a large circular room with a massive viewport. I was surprised to see that it was already night outside. I had no idea I was unconscious for that long.
But as I stepped further into the room, I felt like I was back in the planetarium I went to when I was 10. There were stars everywhere – above me, around me, and even below me. It felt so surreal. But then I felt a sensation of shock, dread, and fear when I saw Earth far below me. It was massive, taking up most of the view of the circular window.
I was more than stunned.
"A-Am… Am I… in s-space…?" I whispered aloud.
"This is Space Colony ARK," came a sudden voice from behind me that made me jump. With both hands clutched over my heart, I looked behind me to see Shadow standing there, idly looking out the viewport.
My stomached churned. I needed relief fast.
"Uh… Wh-where's a garbage can?" I panicked.
"Oh… Forgot humans can't deal with Chaos powers…" Shadow mumbled as he stepped away from the viewport and started walking toward the hall. "Follow me."
Thanks to Shadow's rocket shoes, I had to run to catch up with him. I was glad he didn't take his time leading me back up the hall. We didn't have to go far before Shadow pointed out a garbage can, and not a moment too soon, because my stomach picked that exact time to let loose.
A few agonizing seconds later, I felt a lot better. I was sweating and shivering at the same time, and there were tears rolling down my eyes from the effort, but I was done. I still felt a bit dizzy though, so I leaned against the wall and glanced at Shadow, who was starting to walk back toward the big circular room we had come from. Thinking back, I was glad he wasn't watching me throw up, because it could have made an embarrassing situation worse.
I followed Shadow, but only because I was scared of being alone in space. I didn't like him, but even though I was grateful he didn't hurt me so far, he was still my kidnapper.
"Um… H-How did you know where the garbage can was…?" I dared to ask.
"This is my home," Shadow said as he approached the window again. "Or was, I should say."
"Hm…" I was a bit nervous to ask more questions, even if he could get my handcuffs off, because I felt much safer asking things from my friends at home. Shadow seemed a lot like Sonic in some ways, except he was so… cold and distant… It made me a bit uncomfortable being around him.
I joined Shadow at the window, though I made sure to keep my distance from him. I found myself looking down in awe at the Earth below us. It was so surreal looking at my own planet from above. It was just like all the pictures, except it was infinitely more beautiful in real life. I could see the outlines of the continents, as well as the clouds. I could even see the moon way off in the distance.
"Um…" I dared to speak up, raising my arms. "Is it okay if… you can take off my handcuffs?"
"You're a hostage," Shadow said without looking up. "Remember your place."
"Oh… Okay…" Well, that was a letdown. Another important question came to mind. "Um… So… I guess I'm the first kid to go in space…?"
Shadow closed his eyes. "No…"
I blinked in surprise. I never heard of any other kids going in space in my history lessons. So how was I not the first one?
"Then, um… Who was?"
Shadow sighed. "With this planet's primitive technology, I suppose you would be the first child in space on this world. But there was one before you." He clenched his fists. "Her name was… Maria…"
So I wasn't the first kid in space… I was about to ask him more about that when I heard another pair of footsteps entering the room. I had forgotten Rouge was with us.
"Oh, there you are," she said as she entered the room. "Didn't think we'd all get split up like that. Chaos Control, am I right?"
"It's not random," Shadow stated as he looked back out at Earth. "We all got to where we needed to be."
This is not where I wanna be… I thought.
I didn't know Rouge terribly well, despite her being on Earth for over a year, but I felt a bit of relief wash through me when I saw her again. Even though I would rather be with Sonic, Tails, Amy, or even Knuckles than either of them, I had to admit I felt a whole lot safer with Rouge than Shadow.
"Oh, you still got those on…" she mused. "Here, hold still for me, hon. Keep your hands out and close your eyes."
Trembling, I held my hands out to Rouge. Instantly there was a brief burst of wind, followed by the sound of my handcuffs falling to the floor. I opened my eyes to see that I was free at last.
I expected Shadow to get angry and turn on Rouge for freeing me, but instead he let out a quiet sigh, not once breaking his gaze from the planet below us.
"Th-Thank you… Um…" I dropped my voice to a whisper. "Wh-Who is Maria?"
Rouge mouthed the word "later" to me, and I nodded. But when I looked at her, I could tell that she seemed a bit uneasy about the whole thing. She had a faraway look, and I wanted to ask her about it, but I didn't know if Shadow was able to overhear us.
"Soon, Maria…" Shadow said in a low tone. "I'll avenge you… A life for a life…"
A pang of worry shot through me. Shadow was planning to commit murder. But I didn't know who he was plotting his revenge against. He was becoming increasingly mysterious and dangerous, and I had to find answers.
The Egg Carrier – Thu December 23; 9:50 AM CDT – Third-person POV
The Egg Carrier's main outer deck was the busiest it had in two months. Two space shuttles were set up, and all hands on deck were going into preparing them for launch. Bokkun and Jerome were busy loading various supplies, including Eggman's newly-acquired Master Emerald, into one of the rockets. Orbot sealed the fuel tank, while Cubot emerged from the cockpit.
"The fuel tank is now full, and reserve tanks have been supplied," Orbot reported.
"Coordinates are set!" Cubot added.
"Excellent," Eggman said. "At this rate, we'll be departing ahead of schedule. Now that everything has been gathered together, it's nearly time for the next part of my plan." He chuckled. "Jerome, Bokkun, I'm leaving you two in charge, to oversee everything on the Egg Carrier until I return."
"Okay!" Bokkun said as he finished carefully setting a case on top of the box of emergency rations. His eyes sparkled as he glanced at the six Chaos Emeralds inside.
"Oh, that needs to be secured better," Orbot pointed out. "We don't want it floating around aimlessly, now do we?"
"Relaaaax, it's not gonna float around, it's not like we're going all the way in space," Bokkun shrugged.
"But it can still happen on the way up," Jerome pointed out. "Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, Einstein," he added under his breath.
Bokkun blinked. "What's an Einstein…?" he asked as he properly secured the Emeralds.
Cubot scratched his head. "Beats me."
"He discovered the theory of relativity," Jerome shrugged.
"Yes, but he could never hold a candle to me and my genius," Eggman grinned. "After all, what would an Earth human know about Chaos Energy, or even my level of robotics?"
"True," Orbot said.
"As you saw yesterday, even their best security efforts couldn't keep the Chaos Emeralds safe from me. And now look, I have six of the seven Emeralds! The humans will never know how difficult it was for me to round them all up, and even then, it's just child's play."
Eggman paced the deck nearby, hands behind his back, as he glanced up at the shuttle.
"Now, as for the Phantom Ruby, it will do the work of 'destroying the moon' for me. In other words, the Eclipse Cannon will be nothing more than an illusion. And then after that… who knows where history will go?"
Turning to Jerome, he added "Jerome Wise… the E-100 series are now at your command until I return. Use them wisely. And if Sonic and his friends are to board the Egg Carrier, there will be dire consequences if they discover the generator powering the Phantom Ruby."
"Y-Yes, sir," Jerome said. "But, um… What about the other rocket here, sir? What if they use that to follow you?"
Eggman grinned, and Jerome wasn't sure how to react to that.
"That's exactly my plan," Eggman said as he walked toward the shuttle. "But whatever you do, don't just let them take the rocket. Offer plenty of resistance, and there will be bonus points if you capture them."
"As for you, Bokkun," he quietly told the robot, "you'll be here to make sure Jerome doesn't stray from the plan. He is human, after all."
Bokkun nodded.
Over the next few minutes, Jerome and Bokkun cleared away from the launch site, and Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot entered the shuttle. Its engines ignited with a thunderous roar, and it blasted off into space, bound for Space Colony ARK.
Elsewhere – Thu December 23; 4:23 AM CDT – Sonic's POV
With no luck in Minneapolis, I had spent quite some time checking around the entire state of Minnesota, looking for any sign of Chris. But the thing was, I didn't have any real leads; I was running on nothing more than speculation. Chris could have literally gone anywhere, assuming he was still alive to begin with.
The two likeliest places he could have gone were either the Egg Carrier or Space Colony ARK, but since I didn't have a way to go to space now, and I didn't have NASA on speed dial for a trip to space, I had to settle for the Egg Carrier.
I got a sudden wake-up call in the form of a police car up ahead. It was a sharp reminder for me to stick to the back roads and open country and otherwise stay out of the public eye. It didn't entirely surprise me that they started the national manhunt back up, especially since the news didn't show Shadow as Shadow and not him just pretending to be me. Thinking back, it was downright cruel for Eggman to arrange that...
The first time I went up to the ARK, my friends and I had taken a stolen United Federation rocket from Eggman's old pyramid base. But this time around, I hadn't heard anything about Eggman having a pyramid base, and I wasn't sure about the rocket either. Usually he was open about things like that. I couldn't waste any precious time searching the desert just to confirm my theory, so once again, I had to settle for the Egg Carrier. Except the thing was, I couldn't find it either.
I tried to call Tails on my comlink, but to my dismay, he was out of range. And just for kicks, I wanted to see if Chris was available. But all that popped up on my screen was "Contact Not Found." Going through the rest of my contacts list, I found that Amy, Cream, and Chuck were also out of range.
It was a shame Knuckles didn't have his own comlink, but only because Tails had been very busy and he didn't make enough time for himself to make Knuckles a new comlink. And I couldn't go back home to tell anyone because it was too risky.
I was on my own.
C'mon Eggman… Where are you hiding a giant battleship…?
Space Colony ARK – Thu December 23; 3:40 PM CDT – Chris' POV
I didn't know how much time had passed since I was taken up to Space Colony ARK, but if I had to guess, it was at least three hours. I was scared, lonely, upset, confused, tired, and most of all, bored. As beautiful as Earth and its moon were from space, I could only look at them for so long. There had to be more things to do.
It was no use trying to start a conversation with Shadow, and I wasn't about to ask him about his "life for a life" comment. And Rouge was busy exploring the place herself, and I got the impression she was distracted, so I was left to my own devices for the most part.
I creeped toward the door, cautiously watching Shadow to see if he would notice and try to stop me. But to my relief, even if he did notice, he didn't move from his spot at the viewport. He didn't need to, since the space colony felt like a prison that I could freely walk around in. It wasn't like I could just leave the colony and return to Earth. And even if I could, I didn't think I would be able to survive the return trip through the atmosphere.
I felt a sense of relief the moment I stepped away from the viewport. I felt cold on the inside around Shadow, and I wanted to spend as much time away from him as possible. Even though this was my third time being out of the room, I still had to be careful, just in case.
The only reason I didn't wander beyond the nearby bathroom, which I had used twice by now, was because I didn't know if Shadow would come looking for me and bring me back. That was the only reason I came back to his side and kept looking out the window.
Now, I didn't feel very cold out in the hall. Come to think of it, I didn't feel warm either. The temperature was perfectly regulated and conditioned. It felt like being outside in a way. And the ambient hum of the colony's inner workings that kept it alive maintained the ambience at just above dead silence.
I realized I was starving by now; I had gone four hours without eating anything. To my relief, after about five minutes of searching, I found a kitchen. It looked like one of those big restaurant kitchens, except more space-age.
The fridge looked recognizable enough to be a fridge, so I walked over and pulled the door open, frowning at the MREs that were inside. There wasn't much else in the way of food in there, so I had to settle for the MREs. I hesitated for a moment before consuming it. It was tasteless and bland, but at least it filled me.
Once I finished eating, I left the kitchen and returned to the hall. I could have returned to the viewport, but instead I turned and continued walking down the hall. I wanted to see some of the other rooms on Space Colony ARK.
There were lots of staterooms and closets throughout the corridors, and some rooms were off limits. I couldn't open the doors no matter how hard I tried, and most of the colony was still unexplored, so I decided to just keep looking around.
The room that intrigued me the most was the science lab. Science was my second favorite subject, so it was natural that I was drawn there. There were tables everywhere, covered with blueprints and test tubes. My eyes wandered onto the large sheets of paper closest to me, and I saw a shape of what looked like a giant lizard printed on it. I didn't know if that meant if the scientists who used to be up there were planning on breeding a giant lizard, and if so, the reason for that was beyond me.
When I saw what looked like Chaos on another group of papers next to them, I nervous took a few steps back. I still felt traumatized from my close encounters with that monster. I never wanted to see it again, even if it was proven that its anger was misguided. I still had nightmares of drowning inside its body.
Instead, I looked behind me at the large tubes lining the back wall. There were at least eight of them, large enough to fit a whole person inside. There were control panels next to each one, as well as a lever. I didn't want to touch anything, even though I was curious about what everything did.
One of the tubes caught my eye. When I walked over, I saw a plaque at the top of it that would have described its contents as "Project Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform."
So I guess this really is Shadow's home…
But then I realized something else that felt off about Shadow. He was flesh and blood, just like Sonic… But he was created in a lab. Which meant he technically wasn't real like Sonic. It didn't add up. He was shaped just like Sonic, except for his quills pointing upward, and he had a real personality. If all of this was artificial, then I guessed this was why he was called the Ultimate Lifeform.
"Nostalgia's kicking in, isn't it?"
I jumped at the sudden voice behind me. Turning around, I saw that it was only Rouge. She had just entered the room from another doorway I didn't know was there until now.
"Never thought I'd see this old place again," she mused, dusting one of the nearby pods. She squinted when her glove came back white.
"Pretty huge oversight for a fifty-plus year old space station," she said. "You and your Phantom Ruby can do better than that, Eggman…"
There it was again.
"Wh-what's the Phantom Ruby?" I asked. Grandpa told me a little about it before I went to Minnesota, but I still didn't know enough about it, and I didn't get to ask any of the others because we were too caught up in the Shadow impersonating Sonic thing.
Rouge blinked and tilted her head slightly to one side. "Sonic didn't tell you about it, hon?"
"No, uh- Oh wait, wait, I think Grandpa told me a little, but he didn't get a lot of time."
"Hm… Okay. How much did he tell you?"
I thought back to what Grandpa told me when we were salvaging our things back home. "I… He said it can make things real, even if they're not real, and that Eggman is using it to give himself a second chance at his old plans."
Rouge nodded. "Right on, but there's a bit more to it than that."
"Hm?"
"You're right about the second chance thing, hon, but the Phantom Ruby doesn't just… make things appear. It uses augmented reality. You ever try on a VR headset before?"
"Yeah, a couple times," I said as I sat down in a desk chair. Rouge leaned on the table across from me, facing me.
"Well, that's virtual reality. Augmented reality is kinda similar, but you're in the virtual world, you can interact with everything around it, and everything can interact with you, at least you can with the Phantom Ruby. But this… This isn't what it was back in the war. This is something… way more frightening… Everything feels more real. This whole space station, that chair you're sitting on, all of it's not real. None of this is real, hon. It's all in your head."
"But it feels real, I mean… I can feel the temperature, and…"
"And the gravity, yeah…" Rouge looked around the room. "I don't know about you, but I get the impression there's more to all this than we know… Like, the Phantom Ruby can augment reality, but it can't make reality. And yet…"
"This is reality…" I finished. Rouge nodded.
I stood up and glanced at the windows positioned between the pods.
"I wanna go home…" I admitted.
"I know… Space is no place for kids like you, even if you're hanging out with Big Blue all the time," Rouge said. "But anyway, I wasn't just moseying around this whole time. I was looking for a way to get off this thing myself, but I can guarantee those pods are not gonna be a cozy ride. Other than that, we got nothing."
"So we're stuck here?" I asked.
"Well, not if we play our cards right," Rouge said. "In fact, we're probably better off holing up here 'cuz Eggman's on his way up to finish what he started, so if I were you, I would wanna hide somewhere where he can't find you."
That was bad news, even worse than just being a prisoner.
"Um… O-Okay… So where do I go?" I asked, nervously looking out the window at Earth.
Rouge glanced around, before shrugging. "This room should be fine," she said.
"Like, do I hide inside one of the pods?" I asked, before realizing that was a stupid question.
"That would be a super-big no-no," Rouge said as she approached the pod near me, until she noticed the plaque. "Eggy went all out on the details, didn't he…? He even got Shadow's name on there, and yet he couldn't be bothered to augment dust…"
"So Shadow used to be in there? Like, for real?"
Rouge nodded, thinking back to a time long past, before snapping back into reality.
"When we're not pressed for time, I can tell you more, or maybe Sonic can, but you gotta hide in case Eggman or Shadow come looking for you."
"Okay," I said as I backed away from the window. But as I was turning, I tripped, and I grabbed onto the nearest console to catch myself, but I accidentally pulled a lever. With a sudden hiss, followed by a whoosh, the corresponding pod was ejected out into space.
My face went pale, and my heart sunk.
"Well… That happened," Rouge said with a quiet sigh.
"S-Sorry…!" I whimpered, even though I knew sorry wouldn't fix it. I was done for.
"They know we're in here, we gotta get moving," Rouge urgently told me as she flapped her wings and took off down the hall. I was amazed at how fast she could fly. In fact, I had to sprint to catch up with her.
"Nope, nope, nope…" I could hear her musing as she flew past door after door, and I took it she was deciding which room we should hide in. If it was a closet, I hoped it was big enough for me to hide behind something. At least dust wouldn't be an issue.
After about a minute of running, Rouge stopped in front of a large door that appeared to be locked. It had to have been at least three times my height! It must have been a dead end, because I couldn't see any more doors down this hallway. Rouge sighed when she found that the door wouldn't open, so she took a few steps back and assessed it.
"That room is off limits."
I was startled at the sudden deep voice, and Rouge and I turned to see Shadow standing there with his arms crossed. My heart sank.
"And besides, it's highly radioactive in there," Shadow continued as he approached me. "Anyway, I came to get Chris. The doctor wants to show him something."
That was bad news, and my heart sunk even lower. I took a step back, but before I could register what just happened, Shadow's rocket shoes flared up, and he bolted forward and roughly grabbed my wrist.
"My house, my rules," Shadow stated as he took me back the way we came. As we walked, Rouge looked confused at what he just said.
"Uh… You okay there, Shadow?" she asked. "'Cuz you've been acting a little… I don't know, sketchy lately."
Shadow looked at her. "There's a difference between 'sketchy' and intently focused," he told her bluntly. "The doctor has a goal, and I'm going to make sure he sees it through to the end."
"Hm… Y'know, we've been up here this whole time, and you still haven't said a peep about Maria- well, aside from that one instance," Rouge pointed out all of a sudden.
That seemed to stir something inside of Shadow, because he immediately let go of my wrist, and his face went pale.
"Maria…" he whimpered.
There it was again, that name.
"Wh-Who's Maria…?" I dared to ask. Shadow shut his eyes tightly, anger seeping into his tone.
"She was my one and only friend… and they killed her…"
"Who did?" I asked.
Shadow's ruby red eyes flashed open, staring deep into my own like daggers. I was taken aback.
"Humans," he spat. I could even see his fists clenching slightly.
"Hey, for real, you doing okay?" Rouge asked, waving her hand in front of his face. Shadow slapped it away.
"To think I worked for the organization that killed my best friend all those years ago… All those wasted hours… So much regret… They…" He took a hitched breath, and I could practically see the hatred radiating from him. "They robbed me of the one joy I had in life… I was going to show her the world… I was born to watch over her… I was her shadow… And she was my Maria… My Maria… And then those bloodthirsty humans… Those humans, they gunned her down in cold blood in front of me… right in front of me! I swore revenge on those… primitive… lesser beings… I swore to avenge her and annihilate the entire human race…" His eyes met mine again. "Starting with this one!"
But before he could get too close, Rouge stepped between us, forcing him to stop in his tracks.
"H-Hey, time out, time out!" Rouge interjected. "He's just a kid, Shadow."
"A human kid," Shadow corrected. He was still visibly angry, but at least he wasn't trying to kill me anymore.
I could tell by the look on Rouge's face that she was trying to hold back worry. If she and Shadow really did know each other in the past, Shadow sure wasn't acting like it, which was another sign that he wasn't real.
"Oh, did you forget why you're here, Shadow?" Rouge asked as she slowly paced around the black hedgehog. "'Cuz I don't know about you, but I'm dying to know what Eggman's plan is. Oh, by the way, was it also his plan to make you the same way he made Chaos?"
Shadow's arms were crossed. He was clearly not impressed.
"I was created by Professor Gerald, not his grandson," he stated. "And you both are giving me the runaround. Let's go."
Well, so much for trying to get information out of him…
I was too afraid of Shadow to resist, so I followed Shadow and Rouge back to the main room we had come from.
I had no idea what Eggman's plan was, but it was important enough that he not only needed me as a hostage, but he personally requested Shadow to come get me. I dreaded what would inevitably happen next.
"So what does Eggman want?" I asked Shadow.
Shadow smirked. "You'll find out."
Shadow took us back through the main room we were in earlier and down a few more corridors, including the one where I found the trash can when I first got to the ARK. The further we went, the more dread I felt in the pit of my stomach.
We ended up in another room with a viewport, but the layout was slightly different, not to mention smaller. There, I saw Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot making preparations for a huge laser cannon. I couldn't see the cannon itself, but I knew it was one from the massive screen that was overhead, depicting the cannon from various angles, and different schematics I couldn't make out.
"I am here with the human as you asked, Doctor," Shadow spoke. Eggman turned from the console where he was working. He grinned.
"First the Chaos Emeralds, and now Christopher," Eggman spoke. "Thank you Shadow, you have been a generous donor today. And now, my boy… you're about to witness something truly spectacular."
It was odd that neither of them said anything about Rouge, but Sonic had told me that she could work with Eggman if it benefited her.
"What do you want…?" I asked Eggman, a hitch of fear in my voice.
"The question of the hour," Eggman said with a chuckle. "You'll get your answer in a few short moments if you'll just look out the window for me. In the meantime, I'll be making a public announcement to the entire world."
I blinked.
"O-Okay…? But… h-how are you gonna do that…?"
Eggman looked at me incredulously. "You disappoint me, Christopher. You're living the redux, you should have been able to figure out that I did this before."
I sighed. Of course Eggman had to flex his 300 IQ every chance he got…
Shadow was already walking to the window, and I could tell from the gleeful look in his eyes that he was more than looking forward to avenging Maria. I glanced at Rouge, and I could tell that she was looking antsy. Her eyes were darting from Shadow to me to Eggman to the control panel he was rapidly flicking switches on.
"Oh, and just in case you think of stopping me… well… let's just say the three of us didn't come up here alone," Eggman warned without looking up.
Rouge let out a sigh. She looked as helpless as I felt.
I wandered in the direction of the window, making sure to keep my distance from Shadow. I didn't like him, even less now that he had tried to attack me earlier. My wary gaze left Shadow and landed on Earth, shifting from Station Square to Minneapolis where my friends were very likely still looking for me.
Mom… Dad… Sonic… You're never gonna believe me if I tell you where I am right now…
Minneapolis – Thu December 23; 4:48 PM CDT – Third-person POV
While Sonic searched for Chris from the ground, Tails was searching for any sign of the Egg Carrier in the skies over the Twin Cities. While he was piloting the X-Tornado, Amy, Cream, and Knuckles were keeping an eye out for Eggman's ship, but it was a bit difficult to see through the mostly cloudy skies.
The flight was was completely silent, with the only sounds filling the ears of its occupants being Tails occasionally flicking switches, the muffled roar of the engines outside, and the gentle hum of the heater inside keeping everyone toasty warm. It was cold enough outside for Tails to want to bring a sweater with him, but he didn't think there was enough time to get one. He was glad that his fur provided him with a decent amount of warmth as it was.
"Is Chris really up in space…? Cream spoke quietly, breaking the silence. Everyone sympathized with her worried tone.
"I don't know…" Tails replied just as quietly. "If he's not on the Egg Carrier… then yeah… Most likely…"
"I don't know about you guys, but this feels really familiar… and eerie…" Amy noted from the seat behind him. "Like, back when the four of us were looking for Chris back in May, this is just like that."
"Oh yeah, true," Tails realized as he slowly banked left. "Except this time, he didn't even do anything."
"That was just mean of Eggman…" Amy huffed as she looked out the window again. Tails nodded.
There was another moment of silence as they started to leave the city limits and fly over the outskirts. Tails didn't want to say it out loud, but he was glad GUN wasn't sending vehicles or even their new robots after them, since they were still considered suspects.
"Hey Knuckles, are you still with us?" Amy called. "You've been quiet for pretty much the whole trip."
"Yeah, just looking for the Egg Carrier," the echidna replied absent-mindedly.
They had been flying for a few hours now, and while everyone was getting tired of sitting, Tails was glad he had packed the X-Tornado with snacks on the way over from Station Square. However, they couldn't afford to land not only because of the national manhunt against them, but because they were on a serious time crunch. When Tails thought about it, the government was after every single Mobian currently on Earth, except for Rouge and Big.
The front compartment was lit by a soft glow as Amy unlocked her phone. Opening Twitter, she swiped through various news articles and tweets regarding the situation.
"Station Square's coming along really well," she commented, speaking more to herself than anyone else.
"That's good," Tails said. "See if you can find anything about–"
Suddenly the entire sky was lit up, briefly turning night into day, as an enormous green turbolaser came out of nowhere and tore its way through the atmosphere. It impacted the moon with deadly accuracy, shredding its way straight through its rocky surface and penetrating its core. The four Mobians watched in shock as half of the moon noiselessly dissolved into nothingness.
"Nooo! The moon!" Cream shouted. "Nooo… It was so pretty…"
"Chaooo…" Cheese covered his face and buried himself in Cream's lap.
"Oh… gosh… Oh my gosh… He actually did it…" Amy whispered, her voice shaking.
"He's really willing to push the redux this far…" Tails said. His jaw was literally dropping to the floor, and he had to tell himself to regain control of the plane.
"But does he even know what– He doesn't know what– I-It's gonna affect the tides!" Knuckles realized.
"Yeah…" Tails said.
"And the tides were affected really bad after Eggman blew up half the moon back on Mobius," Amy recalled. "Even though it was the back half."
"Yeah but still… and you know how people were trying to fix it for years, but it was just never the same afterward," Tails said, his hands trembling. "And Earth doesn't even have that kind of technology!"
"So how did Eggman do it just now?" Amy asked.
"Redux," Knuckles answered simply.
"Yeah!" Cream agreed.
Tails wanted to agree with them, but he knew that the redux couldn't be his answer to everything. Some things were real, such as the Egg Carrier and the E-100 Series robots. One of the only ways to tell the illusions apart from reality was the factor of how logical it would be for those illusions to exist in that scenario. For example, Chaos was rampaging around Station Square, even though Knuckles told everyone Chaos was back inside the Master Emerald. And Shadow was back on Mobius, yet here he was on Earth framing Sonic. And the worst part was the humans had no way of telling the difference, and Tails couldn't tell them because he was sure they wouldn't believe him.
Tails was thinking about it too much. He would get more time to think about it later. He had to think about where to find the Egg Carrier.
Amy went back to browsing Twitter, doing so more urgently this time. She was sure people would be talking about the moon and the turbolaser.
Things like Manhunt, Sonic, and #NotMySonic were some of the top trending hashtags and search terms. She frowned when she paused on a tweet that read: "THIS is the hero we looked up to for the past year? Me and my two kids are avid Sonic supporters, it's a disgrace to see him acting this way #NotMySonic"
Amy was quite surprised that anyone would seriously buy into the obvious deception like this. Humans were too gullible.
Another tweet said "Think about it. It's not like Sonic to betray the trust of those he protects from Dr. Eggman on a daily basis. If he really wanted to commit a crime, he would have done so in a much more subtle way. It's not rocket science, people." It got followed up by a reply that said "Get a grip on reality smh". Amy sighed and scrolled on. Humans on Earth were somehow even more easily misled than humans on Mobius. It was shocking how many of them only saw things at face value.
There were a lot more of the same kinds of posts, mostly pro-Sonic, and some of them were outspoken toward the way GUN was isolating and discriminating Sonic's friends for the actions of one individual.
Amy didn't know how much more of it she could take, until she came upon the first video regarding the superlaser hitting the moon. It was followed by another and another, and she quickly fished her earbuds out of Hammerspace and listened to the video for a moment.
"Guys!" she called as she removed and unplugged the earbuds. "Eggman left a message, it's just like before when he did this!"
"Can you play it?" Tails asked.
"Yeah," Amy said as she tapped the screen. Immediately Eggman's gravely voice filled the cabin.
"Citizens of Earth, I've come to make an announcement!" he started. "And once again, just like the first time I did this, I hacked all the TV screens on the whole planet to make sure you don't miss what I'm about to tell you. And I'm not just broadcasting this to rub my victory in your faces– Well… that is one of the biggest reasons, yes. Anyway, your protectors, the government, and of course, you rodents– You may have thwarted my first attempt at world domination, but little did you know I was merely testing the waters for something bigger. I could have taken over the whole world any time I wanted. But I was merely toying with you, seeing how you would react in a snap crisis.
"Now some of you might be wondering, 'Is this some kind of game you're playing?' Why yes, yes it is! I'm playing the long game. I have every move of mine planned down to a science. What's that? You want me to get right to the point? Fine then, but don't say I didn't warn you about what's coming your way in a few short moments.
"I have with me six Chaos Emeralds on board the space station that appeared overnight, as well as my records of the past. This means I can learn from all my old plans, and recreate them to perfection. Every imperfection will be corrected, and every flaw that Sonic found and exploited will be fixed, which means I can effectively succeed where I have failed. And the best part is, Sonic and his friends can't stop me because they've been branded as criminals!
"And now, those of you enjoying your evening, do me a favor and look up at the moon. It's approaching its last quarter, but will any of you notice? Its other half is hidden fron view, but now I'll hide it permanently! Hahahaha! You may remember a time where I tried to clear your atmosphere of all your satellites, but let's see how you value your one and only natural satellite!"
What happened next shocked everyone. Even though no one else but Amy could see the massive laser that ripped through space and obliterated half of the moon, everyone else knew what the video was showing because they had just experienced it for themselves minutes before. Eggman was not bluffing this time.
"How do you like that, Remerson?!" Eggman crowed. "You sent all your government agents to arrest the only people who can defeat me, and now look what happened! This is all you, President!"
"Oh my gosh…" Amy quietly said, covering her mouth in shock.
"Now you only have half a moon! I could have blown up the whole thing if I wanted to, but let's just say that was only a warning. That could be Earth if you don't surrender to me in the next 24 hours. And this is not the first time I've done this, so I know exactly what I'm doing. And if you humans are smart enough, you'll know exactly what to do too."
The video ended seconds after that. It was surreal living this whole experience all over again, especially since it was a life-changing adventure for everyone.
The thoughtful silence was broken by the sound of Cream whimpering from the back.
"I-I'm scared…" Cream spoke quietly, trying to fight back tears. "Mr. Tails… I thought Dr. Eggman… I thought he can't do this anymore…!"
"What do you mean– Ohh…" Tails realized as he remembered a conversation he had with his friends on his third day on Earth.
" …I didn't… think he was that evil…" Chuck said grimly.
"Oh, it gets worse," Sonic said in a more serious tone, as if he was holding back. He counted on his fingers. "Egg Grapes, World Roboticizer, Doomsday Project – even split Mobius apart once."
Chris was incredulous. "He what?!"
"All thanks to a powerful entity called Dark Gaia," Sonic said. "But we stopped him like we always do."
"Hey Chris, it's not gonna happen again," reassured Tails. "The world was put back together after that, and I don't think Eggman can even try and do that again… especially since he doesn't have the resources to do that here."
But this time was different. Eggman did appear to have the resources, and he was using them on this very night, two days before Christmas. Amy was upset because Eggman spared them last Christmas, but not this time.
"I… don't know, Cream," Tails answered. "I wanna say it's the Phantom Ruby, but it can't… it can't recreate something this big."
"And if it's not the Phantom Ruby…" Knuckles spoke before trailing off. "Look, I don't know where he got all this firepower either, in this little time, but more importantly– Uh, how many Emeralds does the Eclipse Cannon need? Was it all seven?"
"Yeah," Tails replied.
"Okay, so how did he get all the Emeralds this quickly? I thought he only had one!"
Cream wiped the tears that were starting to form in her eyes and held Cheese close to her. She wanted to be comforted because she was frightened by Eggman's announcement, but she didn't want to interrupt anyone.
"I know just as much as you do, Knuckles," Tails replied, trying his best to not let the stress get to him. He wanted to focus on flying and collect his nerves a bit more.
"I don't want the Earth to blow up…" Cream admitted.
"Hey, if Eggman blowing up the moon is part of this whole crazy scheme, then so is kicking Eggman's butt," Knuckles responded. "He's not gonna touch the Earth."
"Yeah!" Amy echoed, before her cell phone rang. She pulled it out from Hammerspace and glanced at the caller.
"Who is it?" Cream asked, feeling slightly calmer now from Knuckles' words, but still on edge.
"It's Matt!" Amy excitedly said as she took the call.
"Maybe he has an update for us," Tails said, sounding hopeful. Hope was the one thing the heroes desperately needed tonight.
"Hey Matt!" Amy spoke into the phone. "Did you find something?"
"Yeah, I did actually," Matt said through the phone's loudspeaker. "I saw on Twitter, someone out in Duluth said he saw the Egg Carrier about two hours ago."
"Duluth…?" Amy repeated. "How far is that from Minneapolis?"
"Uh, hold on." There was a pause on the other end. "It's about 135 miles."
"Okay, but what's Eggman doing way out there?" Amy asked.
"I honestly have no idea," Matt said after a moment, "but that's on the direct route to Prison Island, so…"
"But there's nothing out there," Amy said in bewilderment. "I mean, Prison Island is gone, it just got blown up this morning."
"Yeah," Matt said. "See if you can tell Sonic this."
"Okay," Amy said.
"Actually, I can't from here," Tails interjected.
"Why not…?" Amy asked, not expecting this development at all.
"I already tried calling him ten minutes ago… And I still haven't gotten the time to expand the range on all our comlinks." Tails glanced regretfully at the comlink on his left wrist. "And calling Chris is pointless. I tried that too."
"Did you try your cell phone? To call Sonic?" Matt asked.
"He doesn't really use a phone much," Amy replied. "He does have a phone in case of emergencies, but he didn't bring it with him today."
"Oh…" Matt said.
"We'll manage, though!" Amy said with hope.
"So now we got a lead," Knuckles grinned.
"Great job, Matt!" Tails praised, even though he didn't know if his acquaintance could hear him.
"So what's the plan now, Tails?" Knuckles asked. "Are we looking around the whole Duluth area?"
Tails nodded, even though Knuckles couldn't see him. "Yeah, and then we'll stop by Superior in case that's where Eggman went."
"All right, I'm gonna see if I can find any more leads," Matt said.
"Okay, call us if you do," Amy said. "And just in case we don't answer, we're probably up in space."
There was a pause on the other end. "…What?"
"Yeah, that's part of the redux," Tails explained. "We're gonna be going up in space to fight Eggman. At least, that's what happened last time…"
"Oh yeah," Matt recalled.
"And if everything goes according to plan, we'll be back by Christmas," Tails added.
"Okay," Matt said. "You guys take care."
"You too!" Amy said as she ended the call.
Space Colony ARK – Thu December 23; 4:56 PM CDT – Chris' POV
I was left absolutely shell-shocked. Eggman had just blown a huge chunk out of the moon right in front of my eyes. And I was sure everyone on Earth had seen the giant laser beam that was responsible for that scale of destruction. Eggman was dead serious with pushing the redux forward.
"Consider that a warning shot," Eggman said once he ended his broadcast.
That was a warning shot?! My brain screamed. If that was a warning, then there was no telling how strong he could be at full power. It was a real wake-up call.
Glancing in Shadow's direction, I could see that he was staring impassively out the window at the space debris that was floating away from the moon. I did not like the small smirk on his face.
"I'll need to be more careful next time," Eggman mused as he looked at a readout. "That took almost all the power out of the Corundum. That's not a risk I can take again. But other than that, it worked exactly as I planned."
"But how much power will you need for real in 24 hours?" Orbot asked.
"Nothing less than all seven Chaos Emeralds," Eggman said. "As for the scale of destruction, well… that's for me to know and you to find out." With that, he left the room, and his two robots hovered after him.
I wasn't too comfortable being so close to Shadow, so I took a few steps toward the other side of the room to keep my distance from him, my gaze not once leaving the moon – or rather, what was left of it. It was so surreal seeing a gaping hole in the moon, yet horrifying to realize how much power Eggman was holding on to. That was the power of six Chaos Emeralds.
I couldn't bring myself to look anyone in the eyes. I felt like crying, because there I was, once againa prisoner inside one of Eggman's machines. Even though I had more freedom now than when I was captured in the Eggsterminator, I was anything but free.
I didn't know if this whole situation not being my fault was worse than if it was.
"Hey," a voice from behind me startled me. "You okay, kid?"
Rouge's voice was shaking; she sounded just as scared as I felt. I slowly turned to look at her, but kept my gaze on the metal ground.
"Wh-Why is he this powerful…?" I asked. My own voice was shaking too.
"Did… Did Big Blue ever tell you about this?" Rouge asked, taking a glance out at the moon for herself.
"Sonic?" I asked, and Rouge nodded. "Y-Yeah… He told me a long time ago… but I guess I forgot about it until now."
I wished I had remembered what he told me. I was kicking myself for letting the rest of life get in the way of knowing what Eggman had in store for us next. I was getting too comfortable, even at my temporary home away from home.
"The doctor's really accelerating his grandpa's revenge plan, isn't he…?" Rouge mused.
"I didn't know he wanted revenge," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. And then I realized, he created Shadow, who told us he also wanted revenge on the humans!
"It's a long story," Rouge said, pulling her gaze away from the window. "But the important thing is, his goal and Shadow's align. And they both wanted revenge on all the humans because of something they took from them… and that someone was Maria."
The way she took a breath after she said that, I didn't know if she was feeling emotional or nostalgic. But judging from what she was talking about, it was probably painful.
"Who's Maria?" I asked. "Because Shadow keeps talking about her."
"…The whole reason we're having this– Not adventure… I dunno if we can call this an adventure…" she said as she took another look out the window at the destruction the Eclipse Cannon had caused. "Maria… Maria was this little girl who was maybe your age, and she lived up here on the ARK… and she really wanted to go to Earth, except she was suffering from NIDS, which meant she had to stay here."
I blinked. "What's… NIDS?"
Rouge's eyes widened in disbelief. "You don't know?"
I shook my head. Rouge shrugged.
"Huh, I thought it was a human term here too, but I guess not…" She closed her eyes. "NIDS… Neuro-immune deficiency syndrome. Affects one in roughly four million people, it breaks down the immune system so bad that pretty much anything you're normally immune to can be deadly for anyone who has NIDS."
"Oh…"
"Yeah… Most people who have it barely live to be 40. And it's different from person to person, but the thing they all have in common is the air. There's lots of bacteria in the air that can kill people like Maria, which is why Professor Gerald had to look after her and treat her pretty much 24/7, and he made this place specially filtered for her to breathe."
So that explained why the air felt different in the ARK. And I could start to see why Shadow valued Maria, but the story was not done yet. In fact, it was only getting started.
"So anyway, Professor Gerald, Eggman's grandpa, devoted his life's work to benefiting humanity with the power of science. He spent a few years creating the Ultimate Lifeform. He ended up making a bunch of prototypes, but he didn't like how a lot of them turned out. He finally made Shadow with lots of practice and a little alien blood, I kid you not. And he and Maria were besties."
Rouge started pacing slowly in front of me.
"Now here's where the humans come in. The government found out about it. They thought Professor Gerald was an enemy, a conspiracy theorist. There were a bunch of weapons up there… including the Eclipse Cannon…" She glanced outside. "But it had been deactivated for a long time, but they didn't know that. And then they heard of Project Shadow… So they sent GUN up there to the ARK, and they started taking prisoners… and anyone who resisted got shot on sight."
That got dark really fast…
"And Maria… she was one of them…"
I was in a state of disbelief at the fact that they even shot a child like that. They were truly heartless people.
"They shot her…?" I asked, feeling horrified for Maria's fate.
Rouge slowly nodded. "I think they thought she was a threat, hon," she said in a low tone. "They told her to stand down, but she didn't listen, and she ejected Shadow and his capsule down to Mobius. She didn't want them taking him. She always saw the good side of things. She wanted Shadow to protect all the people on Earth."
Rouge was trying her best to hold it together. I was experiencing something that it was clear she didn't want to relive. And now that I thought about it, I realized that I was starting to sympathize with the very hedgehog who captured me and brought me up to the ARK as a hostage for Eggman.
"So… They really thought Shadow was dangerous?" Chris asked.
"Chris… The thing about humans is they always assume too much and jump to conclusions… uh, no offense to you, hon, you're a good kid. And I know, Maria didn't deserve to die–"
"Wait!" I realized. "Shadow said he used to work for GUN, so how come he was working for them when they… killed his best friend…?"
"Oh, they're different now," Rouge explained. "This whole thing, all of this… well, back then… changed everything. They made a whole bunch of reforms after that, and they're a whole lot more tolerable nowadays. And Shadow didn't start working with GUN until a few years after this whole thing blew over. And just so you know, hon, this Shadow is fake. The real one is back on Mobius."
Everything was quiet after that. I looked out the window at the moon and the millions of floating chunks of rock that were still moving away from it. They were still too far away to be pulled into Earth's orbit. I squinted at the sun in the distance, even though the windows were tinted in such a way to reduce the glare it gave off.
"Sonic was gonna tell me about this," I said absent-mindedly. "I guess he never got time…"
"Well, you know him," Rouge said. "He's one busy hedgehog."
"Yeah…"
I was glad Rouge told me about the story of Shadow and Maria. And I never would have expected her of all people to explain it to me, because she was a GUN agent, as well as a jewel thief. She was not like Sonic or any of my other friends. But I took it she knew I was scared, and she wanted to give me context about everything that was going on.
And this was not the first time she helped me out. The last time we crossed paths, she rescued me from Eggman's E-99 robot as I was passing out. So it did seem like she cared for me deep down after all, even if it didn't seem like it on the surface.
When I turned from the window about a minute later, I saw Shadow slowly walking back into the room, about fifty feet from us. I felt a chill roll down my spine and instinctively took a step back, but he didn't make a move toward us.
"That was just a warning shot, humans," Shadow quietly said as he walked to the window. "Maria will be avenged of the crimes of humanity."
"But not all humans are bad," I tried to reason with him. "They–"
"What difference does it make? They're still humans in the end," Shadow said, cutting me off. "Look, I don't want to get into this argument again. Anyway, the doctor brought extra rations in the kitchen, so you'll at least have something more than MREs to eat around here."
That was good news.
"Like what?" I asked. Shadow shrugged.
"I don't know, I didn't look," he said as he started to leave the room again.
I hoped that the food was edible, and that Shadow was right about it being better than MREs. But then again, this was a fake Shadow. He was practically Eggman's puppet, and he could make him act out of character any time he wanted.
But aside from Shadow offhandedly mentioning himself working with GUN at the time of the Maria incident instead of years later, Eggman was choosing not to make him out of character. Even though I never met the real Shadow, Eggman was making him as close to the real Shadow as he possibly could just to mess with our heads.
Speaking of messing with our heads, was Eggman really going to destroy the Earth in 24 hours? I didn't want to believe he was, but every time I looked at what was left of the moon, I was reminded of what Eggman was really capable of.
I had to pull myself from the window. Not only was I angry at Eggman, but I was starting to get hungry again.
Matt's apartment – Fri December 24; 1:12 AM CDT – Third-person POV
Chuck rolled onto his other side for what must have been the twentieth time that night. It was past one in the morning, and no matter how much he tried to sleep, his thoughts kept returning to Chris. He was worried sick about his grandson, and he could tell that, deep down, everyone else felt the same way too.
Even distracting himself with his phone did little to help him. He had been flipping through news article after news article, watching countless videos recorded by people who saw the laser blowing up the moon, as well as reading about Eggman's Eclipse Cannon and his ultimatum. He finally had to stop because it wasn't doing him any good.
He had no idea that the rescue that morning would go so wrong. Yes, they succeeded in getting Sonic out of prison as they planned, but now Chris was kidnapped. If he wasn't on the Egg Carrier, then he was very likely up in space, a thought that scared him very much. Still, he told himself to keep believing that Sonic would find a way to rescue him before tomorrow night.
Chris was probably scared and crying up on the ARK. The poor child had always been scared of being alone, and Chuck knew that. He had done everything he could to make sure Chris knew he had friends and family. But this situation was completely out of his hands.
Even worse than Chris being lonely was the fact that he was very likely with Eggman and Shadow on the ARK, with no possible way for him to escape. That thought frightened him, especially since this was the third time now that he was imprisoned by Eggman. He didn't even want to begin to think about what he must have been going through up there.
Furthermore, even with Matt's help, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream all came home without any results from their search. They reported that they had searched the entire mainland around Duluth, and even flew over Lake Superior around the area of the ruins of Prison Island, but there was no sign that the Egg Carrier was ever there.
It was a good thing that they left when they did, because the police were at their door barely half an hour later, asking them questions about where the Mobians had been and how long they had been there. It was rough, to say the least. The good news was that the Thorndykes were not in trouble, but they were asked to report the Mobians if they saw them. Even though Sonic was the one they were looking for, everyone else was considered a person of interest.
This whole time he had been wondering why the police hadn't just come into the apartment to detain them. If they knew Sonic's friends were there, then why weren't the police making their move? It didn't add up. Yes, it was understandable that they had to be careful whenever they left the apartment, but it was like they were safe inside. Mr. Tanaka was the first to call out this false sense of security, and it made Chuck uncomfortable thinking about it.
The four other-worlders had long since crashed on the couch, while Sonic was still out looking for Chris. His persistence knew no bounds. He wouldn't stop looking until the boy was found, even at one in the morning. Chuck admired that trait in the hedgehog; it was something most humans his age didn't have.
However, no one had a way to contact Sonic because Tails had told Chuck that he never got around to expanding the range on his comlinks, which meant he was truly on his own.
He looked up from his phone when he thought he heard a blowtorch from the other room. Someone must have been awake. Probably Tails. He did mention wanting to expand the range on his comlinks. He hadn't gotten around to doing so because of the whole fiasco everyone had been caught up in, so no one had been able to contact Sonic.
But upgrading a wristwatch wasn't something that required a blowtorch, so what in the world could Tails be working on?
Overcome by his curiosity, he slipped out of bed and made his way out to the dining room. There he saw Tails sitting at the table, busy working on one of his projects. There was a mug of hot chocolate next to him.
"What are you doing up so late, Tails?" Chuck softly asked so as not to startle him.
"Oh, hey Chuck," Tails said just as quietly, looking up from his work. "I'm making something that's gonna help us when we find Chris."
"Like what?" Chuck asked in curiosity. Setting down his tools, Tails picked up a Chaos Emerald off the table and showed it to him, but he looked confused at the professor's own confusion. "And– why is there another one on the table? And it's the same color… How did you do that?"
"Oh! This one's not real," Tails said as he set the Emerald back on the table. "I actually made it myself. Because the first time I did this, Eggman wanted me to give him the Emerald, so I gave him a fake one." He looked down, feeling a bit of regret. "…but… I kinda accidentally told him it was a fake…"
"But you still won in the end, and you ended up learning from that experience, didn't you?" Chuck asked, and Tails nodded. "Then you should have nothing to worry about this time, my friend." Again the little fox nodded.
"Yeah, I'm smarter now," Tails said. "I'm still naive, and I'm still a kid, but I'm definitely a whole lot smarter now."
Chuck smiled as he pulled up a second chair and sat down next to Tails. He glanced from the fake Emerald in front of him to the real one on the other side of the table.
"So what makes this one different from the real one?" Chuck asked out of curiosity. "Because they look exactly the same to me."
"Yeah, they're supposed to," Tails explained as he picked up the fake Emerald again. "They even work at the same frequency, but the difference is the fakes can only be used once, and after they, they just turn to dust." He set it down next to Chuck again. "So you gotta be careful how you use 'em."
"Fascinating," Chuck said as he examined it. He glanced at the real Emerald, then back at the fake.
"But yeah, you can't tell the difference just from looking at it," the fox added. "But for some reason, people like Knuckles can tell the difference pretty easily. I don't know how he does it, he just can somehow… but I guess it has something to do with him being the guardian of the Master Emerald. He's been around the real Emeralds for so long that he can tell if they're not real."
"Ah, that makes sense," Chuck commented. He looked out the expansive window at the moon. From Earth, it looked like Galactus stopped by and took a big bite out of it.
"I still can't believe what Eggman did to the moon," Chuck said. Now he couldn't even look at the moon without thinking of his grandson. He wanted to tear his eyes away, but he couldn't. He was fascinated and horrified at the same time over what happened that night. Only now did Eggman's ultimatum truly sink in.
Chuck was an optimist, but he was also a realist. Sure, Sonic could save the whole planet in less than 24 hours, but there were still only 24 hours left until there wouldn't be any planet left.
"Chuck…?" came a small voice from behind him, snapping him out of his trance. He didn't realize he had zoned out.
"S-Sorry…" the professor said.
"Are you okay?" Tails asked, worried for his friend. Chuck looked like he was about to shrug it off as nothing. "Um… It's okay, you can tell me."
"To be honest… I'm not really sure, It's just… I-I know Sonic will come through and save us all, but this time… This time, it feels too real. Like, back in May it was really bad when Eggman kidnapped Chris… But it was never like this."
Chuck wasn't one to unload all his emotions at once, but he had been very stressed for the past few hours, and Tails was one of his most trusted friends.
"Sorry, was that too much…?" Chuck asked as he slowly sat back down. Tails shook his head.
"No, you're fine, Chuck, I'm used to situations like this," he said. Chuck knew he was referring to the greater situation at hand, not people telling Tails heavy stuff.
"I've been telling everyone all day, I've been going, 'Hey, it's okay, Sonic's gonna get everything under control, it's all gonna be fine,' but in reality, I can't stop thinking about Chris. He's never been to space before, and his biggest fear is being alone. Yes, I know Rouge and Shadow are up there with him, but I don't think they're good company for him, especially not Shadow."
Tails nodded.
"Tails… I don't know how to say it… but I'm afraid… I don't want anything happening to my precious grandson…"
He didn't realize he was crying until he opened his eyes, only to find tears blocking his vision. He looked down to see Tails looking back up at him with worry and concern in his eyes.
"Chuck? It's… He's gonna be okay…" Tails said. "We did this before… We can do it again… 'cuz we got the upper hand this time. We all know what's gonna happen next."
"I know, but still… He's just as desperate as we are with this."
Chuck was normally not a fragile man. But now that he was separated from his grandson like this, it was driving him to the breaking point. He felt Tails gently hug him, and Chuck returned the hug.
"Hey Chuck? Um… When we made that promise last year that we were all gonna protect Chris… We really meant it. We're not gonna let space stop us from finding him. And Eggman's not gonna stop us either. I promise, we'll find him and get him back, and then we're gonna crack that Eggman wide open. Trust me, it's all gonna be okay, Grandpa."
Chuck hugged Tails for a moment longer before letting go.
"Thank you, Tails," he said quietly as Tails returned to his seat. "I really needed to hear that, you have no idea."
Tails nodded. "That's what friends are for," he said.
For the next minute or so, while Tails worked on fine-tuning the frequency of his fake Chaos Emerald to match the real one, Chuck sat there idly playing with the real Emerald in his hands. There was a lot on his mind still, but at least he was able to release some of the pressure that had accumulated in his heart over the last few hours.
"Do you want some cocoa?" Tails softly asked after taking a sip of his own drink.
"Maybe in the morning, it's pretty late for me," Chuck replied without looking up from the Emerald.
But in reality, as much as he didn't want to admit it out loud, he needed more comfort. He couldn't stop worrying for Chris' safety, even though he kept telling himself Sonic and his friends could save him, and even though he kept replaying Tails' words in his head. It was just like E-99 back in May.
"You know… I may want to have some after all. I need the warmth," he said as he got up and walked toward the kitchen.
Tails nodded, promptly going back into focus mode on his project. Not even a minute had passed when his comlink beeped. He let out a quiet yelp; he must have forgotten to set it to vibrate instead.
Chuck heard it from the kitchen, and he threw a confused glance in the direction of the couch. Amy, Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese were still asleep, so it wasn't any of them who was trying to contact him.
"Hi Sonic," Tails spoke softly into the comlink. "What'd you find?"
There was silence for several seconds while Tails listened to Sonic's report. Chuck couldn't hear Sonic, so he had to settle to hear the news from just Tails' side for now.
"Okay, we're on our way," Tails said as he stood up. "Just gimme a few minutes."
"What did he say?" Chuck asked, immediately realizing another question he wanted to ask too.
"He finally found the Egg Carrier," Tails replied, a hint of excitement in his voice as he bounded toward the couch.
"But does he know if Chris is on board?" Chuck followed up.
Tails shook his head as he gently shook Knuckles awake. He was surprised that he stirred so easily this time; normally he was a heavy sleeper. Then he moved to Amy and did the same.
"Morning already…?" Knuckles said as he yawned.
"Why'd you wake us up, Tails…?" Amy spoke, sounding just as groggy as the echidna.
"Sonic just called, he found the Egg Carrier!" Tails excitedly announced, forgetting to lower his voice.
Amy accidentally let out a whoop of joy, which startled Cream awake. The bunny had a very confused expression, and her eyes were half closed as she looked at her friends.
"S-Sorry," Amy apologized as she pulled the large blanket aside and stood up.
"What's… happening…" Cream asked as she sat up.
"Sonic found the Egg Carrier!" Amy cheered. "That means we're one step closer–"
"We're gonna see our big brother Chris!" Cream added, now feeling awake.
"And you're gonna pull your weight too, mister," Amy teased as she gently nudged Knuckles. "Then you're gonna earn a good night's sleep."
Knuckles groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Couldn't Sonic have found it in the daytime instead…?"
"Nope! The sooner, the better!" Amy replied excitedly.
"Hey Tails," Chuck called. "When did you fix your comlink? I thought Sonic was too far away."
"I only got time to fix mine," Tails replied as he made his way to the door. "Mine works at long range now, but Sonic's doesn't, so I asked him to try and come closer so I can contact him better."
"Ah, I see," Chuck said with a nod.
"So I told him what Matt found out, and he looked around that area too, and he said he found the Egg Carrier parked out on Lake Superior."
Chuck blinked. "I thought you went over that area already."
"I thought so too, but Lake Superior is huge, so there were probably some parts we didn't go over," Tails said.
"I'm sorry, just one more question," Chuck said all of a sudden. "If Chris is on the ARK, what do you need the Egg Carrier for?"
"I think that's where the next part of the redux is taking us," Tails said. "But if not, then we'll find another way."
"C'mon, Tails! Let's go!" Amy called, slipping her pink winter coat on as she was practically dragging Knuckles out the door.
"Coming!" Tails called back as he followed her.
"Wait, Tails! You forgot something!" Chuck said, gesturing in the direction of the dining room.
"Oh!" Tails ran back to pick up the fake Emerald, along with his mint green winter coat, before running back to the door. "Thanks Chuck, bye!"
"Bye-bye!" Cream added, zipping up her sky blue coat as Tails closed the door behind them.
I hope all of you stay safe, and no matter what happens, I believe you can do this, Chuck thought to himself.
The Egg Carrier – Fri December 24; 1:39 AM CDT – Sonic's POV
I felt another shiver run through me as I kept my eyes fixed on the Egg Carrier in the distance. Fortunately, the ice was thick enough to support my weight, but it was also quite slippery, so I had to make sure my footing was secure at all times.
At first, I thought the Egg Carrier was parked on the ice, but at a closer look, I saw that it was actually hovering in place several feet above the surface. Its weight would otherwise make it break through the surface. I made sure to keep my distance from it so no one on board would see me, but I also didn't want Eggman getting away.
I was both cold and bored. It had already been thirty minutes since I ran back to Minneapolis and put out the call, which felt like forever ago. I had run several laps around the lake to stay warm and keep myself busy. I was a bit surprised that I went undetected by the Egg Carrier or anyone else that whole time. I had to stop running after a while because I felt like I was pushing my luck.
Another minute later, I finally heard the familiar sound of two booster engines as the X-Tornado came into view, its lights illuminating the night. I took a few steps back as it converted into X-Cyclone mode and landed expertly on the ice in front of me. I was amazed how it didn't crack or even melt the ice too much.
Almost as soon as it touched down, both canopies opened, but Tails was the only one who stood up in his seat. He carefully held his hands out before spinning his tails and flying down toward me. I smiled because the coat Ella bought for him looked really cute.
But as soon as he touched down on the ice, he yelped as he slipped a little.
"I gotcha!" I told him as I took his hands to steady him.
"Thanks," he told me holding his hand over his heart for a moment before looking up at the others. "You guys stay in there for now, okay?" he told them. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
My gaze followed his, and I saw that Knuckles was the only one who wasn't wearing a coat. Somehow, it was just like him to tough out the elements like this.
"So did you see the Eclipse Cannon?" Tails asked me. He sounded like he had wanted to ask me that for a while now.
"Sure did," I said, looking up at the sky where the moon was still broken up. "It's just like I remember… I tried to call you and tell you about it, but you never picked up. What happened? And how were you able to call me?"
"Sorry about that…" Tails replied. "It's kinda my fault because I forgot to expand the range on all our comlinks. At least I got mine done tonight. That's how I was able to call you."
"Ah, gotcha," I nodded.
"Anyway, time to talk a strategy."
"Good idea," Tails agreed as he warily looked out at the Egg Carrier. "Um… I'm not sure if Eggman can see us from here, so maybe we should make it fast."
I nodded cockily. "Don't worry, fast is my thing. Eggman won't know what hit him."
"Last time, Eggman went up to the ARK," Knuckles recalled from up in the back seat of the X-Tornado. "Knowing him, he probably went up there again this time too."
"And he's not gonna leave the Egg Carrier unguarded," Amy added. "So, anyone else think this is the new Pyramid Cave?"
I blinked. "What do you mean, Ames?" I asked.
"Like, we needed to go to both places in order for us to go to space," Amy explained. "And noth of them were Eggman's bases."
"Ohhh, yeah, true!" I realized.
"So in other words, we gotta look for a rocket," Amy continued.
"Sounds like a trap…" Tails thought aloud.
"Hey, he's not gonna leave it unguarded, you guys," Knuckles pointed out. "If he really is leaving a rocket for us, he sure isn't gonna make it easy for us. I mean, if he's up there on the ARK like I said earlier, he's probably gonna leave some robots to protect the ship."
"Definitely," I said. "And Tails, I think you're right about it being a trap. Eggman didn't tell us anything about a rocket, or how we're even supposed to get up in space. So Knux is right, we gotta be ready for anything, guys."
"Hey Tails," Knuckles called. "Think you can close the cockpit? Cream and Cheese are shivering in here."
Tails and I looked up to see Cream hugging Cheese close to her, even with the already warm cabin of the X-Tornado.
"I'm not cold," Cream said without looking up. "I'm just s-scared…"
"Yeah… Me too…" Amy admitted.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared too. I was more concerned over Chris' safety than the rest of ours, because we could handle ourselves very well, but Chris… He unfortunately lacked our strength and metabolism, which meant he needed us to protect him, something we had promised to do since we first arrived on Earth. But he was still a hero in my eyes.
"I'm really worried about Mr. Chris…" Cream admitted. "I can't stop thinking of him, he must be very sad and lonely and… and crying up there in space…"
Cheese let out a whimper and hugged Cream tighter. It was heartbreaking for me to watch.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," I told them. "We're gonna get him back and kick Eggman's butt, just like always."
"Keep an eye out for the E-100's," Knuckles warned. "I still owe 'em a beating for stealing the Master Emerald. Speaking of…"
The echidna closed his eyes, trying to sense if it was on board the Egg Carrier.
"Knuckles-"
"Shh, trying to focus," Knuckles spoke, and Cream nodded in understanding.
"Oh, okay, sorry," she whispered.
We were all quiet after that as we let Knuckles do his thing. Tails huddled his tails closer to his body as a small gust of wind picked up. I knew exactly how he felt, and I hoped there really was a shuttle on board the Egg Carrier so we After a minute, Knuckles let out a sigh of annoyance.
"I can't find it anywhere nearby," he said. "I don't know if I'm just sensing the Emerald in the cockpit, if it's causing interference, but I'll do another check when we're on board."
Amy nodded. "So do we just wing it?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much the plan," I said. "It's kinda my thing, anyway." Tails nodded his agreement.
"So are we ready to go?" he asked as he flew back up to the cockpit. I stretched my arms and legs, being careful not to slip on the ice.
"Yup, ready when you guys are," I answered.
"We're ready too!" Amy replied with a thumbs-up.
"And we can help fight the robots too!" Cream said with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Yeah!" Amy agreed. "But we still gotta make sure you and Cheese stay safe."
"Mmhmm," Cream said as she cuddled Cheese close.
I carefully hopped up onto the X-Tornado's wing, and I was slightly taken aback when Tails looked over at me in confusion.
"…Wait, I thought you were gonna run there…" he noted.
"Yeah, normally I would," I told him. "But ice and quick stops just don't mix, plus the main deck is kinda high up, so… hope you don't mind me hitchhiking, little buddy."
Tails giggled. "Good call."
No one had anything more to say after that, so Tails closed both the canopies, and I made sure my footing on the wing was secure. Even though I was riding the wing of a plane, it still felt more solid than the ice I had been treading for the last half hour.
As Tails transformed the X-Tornado back into flight mode and accelerated forward, I kept my gaze on the Egg Carrier. I didn't think I would be going back there so soon. And on top of that, Cream had never been on the Egg Carrier before, let alone seen this Egg Carrier up close, so I reminded myself to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe.
And chances were pretty low that Chris was actually on the Egg Carrier and not in space, so I needed to look for him as well. And if Amy and Knuckles were right about the shuttle, then it was definitely a trap, but it was our one and only ticket to saving Chris.
The last time we took a shuttle to Space Colony ARK, we had to go to Pyramid Cave, which was Eggman's base at the time. We also had to deal with an Egg Golem within. I figured Eggman wasn't going down that route this time around because he wanted to save resources. After all, Eggman didn't have the original Egg Carrier that time because it was destroyed, along with his second Egg Carrier. But this time, the Egg Carrier survived the ordeal with Perfect Chaos, so it ended up being his base rather than Eggman needing to make a new one.
Eggman was being very careful this time.
Only five minutes later, we descended toward the Egg Carrier's main deck and landed in normal mode. I hopped off the X-Tornado's wing as it was slowing to a stop. It was great to finally stand on solid ground again. Then Tails opened both canopies, and everyone got out and landed on the deck.
Even though it was pitch black outside, the deck was well-lit, so finding our way around wouldn't be a problem.
"Never thought we'd be back here again," Amy noted as she warily looked around.
"Me neither," I said.
"Like, it's nostalgic in a bad way, if you know what I mean," Amy continued.
"Guys, we got company!" Knuckles warned, pointing across the deck toward the back of the ship. We followed his gaze and saw the five E-100 Series robots running toward us. It was like they were expecting us, which meant Eggman's forces saw us coming after all.
"There are so many of them!" Cream exclaimed, taking a step back. Cheese floated out of the bunny's arms and took on a fighting stance in midair.
"Hey, there are five of us and five of them," I said, smugly rubbing my nose. "We got this."
Knuckles bumped his fists together, and Amy pulled out her hammer. It was show time.
I ran straight toward the robots and spun toward the lead robot, Beta. It seemed to anticipate my move, because it launched a missile slightly ahead of where I was running, forcing me to leap to the side to avoid it. It launched another missile straight at me, but this time, I kicked it out of the way, and it exploded harmlessly on the ground.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Knuckles smashing Zeta from above with both fists, but the robot didn't go down. Instead, it turned and fired its shrapnel gun straight at Tails. He was able to fly away, but not before he took a few hits.
"Tails!" Amy called. But she couldn't do anything to help because Delta was bearing down on her, its flamethrower activating, and she was forced to duck under the flames.
I gritted my teeth as I turned back to face Beta. However, a sudden electronic explosion from behind me threw me across the deck.
"Man… you guys are tough workin' together like this…" I said.
When I got up, I saw Epsilon firing another shock grenade at me. I got up and quickly scrambled out of harm's way as the blast hit where I had just been standing.
"But you know what? So are we!" I declared as I easily dodged another one of Beta's missiles.
But then I saw Cream and Cheese trying to outrun Gamma as it was gaining on them, firing powerful lasers from its new minigun that narrowly missed the two by inches. I would have gone in to help them, but Beta and Epsilon wouldn't let me out of their sights. Fortunately, Amy was there to help, except she hesitated for a moment. That was just enough time for Delta to catch her by surprise and fire its flamethrower at her.
"H-Hey, that's my dress!" she cried out, holding her dress close and smothering the flames.
"Amy, that's not the same robot you know!" Knuckles called. "Just smash it with the rest!"
"But-" Amy was about to protest, but she realized Knuckles was right. She took a deep breath. "Okay…"
I imagined it was hard for her to do something like this, especially because thanks to her, Gamma had a change of heart and let her out of prison, and she helped it to realize Eggman's true intentions.
This was not the same robot.
Fortunately, I saw that Cream and Cheese were able to fly out of the way just in time. Gamma was just about to activate its jetpack when it sensed Amy behind her and turned around to face her.
"I'm sorry…!" Amy squeaked as she smashed Gamma full force with her hammer.
…But it barely did anything.
It was clear that Amy didn't expect that, and she stumbled backward, wincing from the impact of her hammer, as Gamma opened fire on her. However, she was able to regain her footing and run away.
"Cheese Shot!"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Cream threw Cheese full force at Gamma. It was incredible how much force the rabbit threw him, and how much power the Chao had when he pierced straight through Gamma's inner workings. Smoke billowed from the robot as it collapsed.
"Nice one, Cream! One down!" I cheered, finally getting a break from my own robots in that moment.
"Yeah!" Tails said as he flew overhead. I winced when I saw scratch marks from the shrapnel. "These guys are way tougher than I thought, plus they all have different weapons."
"Eggy definitely learned," I noted. "So all we gotta do is adapt."
Tails felt nostalgic for a second. "That sounds like something Aunt Sally would say," he noted.
"She taught us everything we know," I said. "And we came up with the rest ourselves!"
Meanwhile, I was alerted to an explosion on the other end of the deck. When I turned, I saw Knuckles standing over the smoldering ruins of Zeta. However, he didn't know that Epsilon was sneaking up on him.
"Knux, behind you!" I called, but I was a moment too late. Epsilon launched a missile at him, and the resulting explosion blew him several feet away. However, he was able to land on all fours.
"Knuckles!" Tails called as he flew toward the echidna, but Beta launched a heat-seeking missile that hit Tails, sending him flying. That was the second time he had taken a direct hit from one of the robots. I would make sure that was the last time.
Gritting my teeth, I raced toward Beta as fast as I could. However, the robot saw me coming, and it activated its jetpack and flew out of the way. I was amazed how fast all of their reaction times were. I turned back toward him, but Delta flew in with its flamethrower to try and scorch me.
But Tails and Knuckles raced onto the scene before I realized it. Knuckles wrapped his arms around Delta and lifted it off the ground, then aimed it at Epsilon.
"Have a taste of your own firepower!" he chuckled.
But his laughter died in his throat when Epsilon took a few steps back, completely avoiding the flames, then aimed its grenade launcher at Amy and Cream.
"Amy!" Knuckles warned as Epsilon opened fire.
"I see him!" Amy called as she adjusted her grip on her hammer. Epsilon fired a grenade at her, but she hit it back with her hammer, aiming straight at Epsilon. The resulting explosion completely shorted out the orange robot.
"Great job, Miss Amy!" Cream cheered. Amy smiled, having recovered from her dilemma with Gamma.
"You guys, see if you can find the rocket," I told Amy and Cream. They both nodded and ran off. It had struck me while I was dealing with Beta that the rocket was nowhere to be found on the main deck, which meant it had to be on another open deck on the ship, if it was on the Egg Carrier at all.
…Unless there was no rocket at all, but I really hoped that wasn't the case.
"Looks like I don't need you anymore," Knuckles said as he threw Delta at Beta, who expertly dodged its comrade.
"Beta's the toughest if the bunch," I reminded Knuckles.
"Who's Beta? Is that the black one?" Knuckles asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I know, this guy is almost as tough as me-"
"Hey guys, Gamma's still up!" Tails shouted. I looked behind me to see the heavily damaged red robot flying high into the air. Then it suddenly fired its laser minigun, pelting the entire deck with tiny electric projectiles. It was real challenge trying to run between the lasers and avoid them all.
Unfortunately, Knuckles was not as lucky. He took several hits in the back as he scrambled to pick up Delta again. With a grunt, he held it up in the path of the lasers, allowing them to destroy Delta instantly.
"Sonic!" Tails called, and I looked up to see him flying above me, reaching out to me. I nodded and, taking a leap into the air, took hold of his hands. He lost a little altitude, but not much.
Once we were both secure, he flew me up toward Gamma, who was still raining lasers onto the deck. Knuckles was trying to scramble out of the way, but Gamma was now slowly flying after Amy and Cream, who still hadn't left the massive main deck.
"Ready?" Tails asked me.
"Ready when you are, buddy!" I answered.
With a grunt, Tails swung me around once before throwing me toward Gamma with incredible precision. I curled into a ball and braced myself before smashing my way straight through the robot's heart, causing it to explode in midair.
We both landed on the deck at the same time as scrap metal rained down behind us. I realized that none of the E-100 robots had Mobinis inside them like they used to, and I was super glad about that, because none of us even thought about that beforehand. Things would have been a lot more complicated if they did have little animals inside them.
"Is that all of 'em?" Tails asked, looking around.
"Nope. There's still one more," I said as I caught side of Beta in its wheeled mode, making a speedy getaway. Knuckles saw it too from the distance before looking back at us.
"Should we go after him?" he asked as he started forward. I thought for a moment.
"Nah, let him go," I shrugged. "He's not going the same way Amy and Cream went. Speakin' of, let's go see if they found our rocket."
I took off running down the deck, seeing all the laser holes in the floor from Gamma's minigun, and the destroyed remains of Epsilon and Zeta, as we ran. I knew Eggman would come home to this war zone and see that he had suffered yet another frustrating loss to Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends.
We ran for longer than I thought we had to around the outside deck. Even though we didn't need to go inside the ship, it still felt like we were running for a long time. It was surprisingly quiet despite the Egg Carrier hovering just above the surface of the ice. He probably parked the Egg Carrier way out in the middle of Lake Superior because he thought no one could see him. How wrong he was.
"You okay back there, Knux?" I asked as I caught the echidna holding back a yawn.
"Yeah, but I'm gonna be doing a lot of sleeping on the way up," Knuckles said. "Since it's like… two in the morning, you guys should do the same."
"Yeah, especially since you've been running literally all day, Sonic," Tails added.
They were right. I didn't realize how tired I was getting. On the bright side, most of the fighting was behind me, and only a door separated me from rest.
To my relief, there was indeed a rocket on the back deck. Amy and Cream were standing in front of it, examining its door.
"Oh, sweet! We got ourselves a ride!" I exclaimed, even though I knew full well Eggman was probably setting us up for a trap.
"Yeah, but that's only half the battle," Amy told us. "I tried to open it. It's locked with a passcode."
"Of course…" I muttered. "Eggy never makes things easy for us… Talk about hard-boiled…"
Amy rolled her eyes. "Sonic, that wasn't funny and you know it," she said.
"Hey, I've been running all day, you can't fault me for bein' off my game, Ames," I replied as I looked up to see Knuckles and Tails catching up.
"What's going on?" Knuckles asked, but it looked like Tails figured out what happened at first glance.
"Passcode…" he mumbled as he joined us at the top of the steps to the rocket. He stood on his tiptoes to examine the keypad. "No smudge marks… And I didn't bring anything to hack our way in…" He looked back at the rest of us. "So we're gonna have to find the master computer to find out what it is."
"But that's gonna take forever…" Cream whined. "What if we break the door down?"
"That is theoretically possible," Tails said, "but we can't go in space with a broken door because we need air."
"Oh… You're right, Mr. Tails," Cream said, taking a step back to give us more room.
"Well, there is a way," I said, thinking of something I hadn't thought of before.
"Hm?" Amy said, looking up at me, as did the others.
"Believe it or not… last time we were here, me and Knux ran into Jerome Wise, so maybe-"
"What?!" Amy explained. She and Tails were incredulous and shocked.
"Isn't he- Wasn't he the old Chief of Staff?" Tails asked. I nodded.
"No way…" Amy said after another moment. "No wonder he hasn't been caught yet. Like, no one knows where he even is!"
"Hm… It kinda makes sense in a weird way for him to be working for Eggman like this," Tails noted.
I nodded. "Chris is the one who saw him here first," I pointed out.
Amy blinked in surprise. "So… why didn't he tell us about this?" she asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he was too scared," I guessed. "I don't blame him, he was going through a lot back then."
"And if you knew, then why didn't you tell us?" Amy asked, feeling slightly annoyed at me. I took a step back
"Uh… I was too caught up in the rest of the–"
"Guys, we gotta get moving," Knuckles told us, thaankfully saving me from the awkward situation. "If we stick around for too long, the Badniks will be upon us."
"Good point," I said. "All right, let's move or lose it! But make sure we stick together!"
The five of us took off toward the passages that led into the ship. There were a lot of hallways and corridors branching out everywhere, but I was slightly more familiar with the layout of the ship than the others because I had been here before. There were so many twists and turns, and after a while, Knuckles was starting to show signs of exasperation.
"Would it kill the doctor to label everything for once?" he grumbled. "I mean, all the doors look exactly the same!"
"Yeah!" Amy added.
"Even though we're all together, we're still lost," Cream pointed out.
"Hey, we're not lost, we just gotta figure out where we are and the rest is simple," I told them optimistically.
"Seriously, where is everyone?" Tails asked, looking around.
"I don't know," Cream responded. She wasn't holding Cheese, so both of them could move freely in case of an ambush.
Tails brought up a good point. There were no robots anywhere, aside from the E-100 robots we had fought earlier. It was like we had the whole ship to ourselves. I half expected to be ambushed by Badniks at any time, so I made sure to keep my guard up.
"Not too big on Christmas decorations, Eggman," I mused aloud. There was nothing on the ship to indicate that it was almost Christmas. No garland, no Christmas trees, no giant inflatables, not even lights. It was a far cry from everywhere else I had been this time of year.
"So what kind of room are we looking for again?" Knuckles asked.
"I think it's an office of some kind…?" I responded with uncertainty. "Could have been something else, though. Don't really remember."
"What kind of offices does he have?" Amy asked.
"They're not your everyday offices, that's for sure," Tails responded as he scanned the doors. "Most of the time, the most office-like room Eggman has in his bases are normally used for surveillance."
"Yes! That's it!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers. Or at least, I tried to snap my fingers. "Still can't do it after all these years," I said aloud to myself.
"It's okay, it takes a little bit of practice," Tails told me.
"Yeah, you'll get it!" Amy added, snapping her own fingers to demonstrate.
"The struggles of having big mitten hands…" Knuckles said under his breath.
Cream ran to catch up with Knuckles. "So are we trying to find a big computer room?" she asked.
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Okay," Cream said as she stuck close to her friends for safety.
We spent the next several minutes walking together in silence. There were no sounds except for the ambient engines keeping the ship afloat, and the sounds of our shoes against the reinforced metal floor. At each intersection we came across, I went ahead of everyone and checked around the corners to make sure the coast was clear before we moved on.
We felt an uneasy relief that no robots emerged to challenge us. Ten minutes later, I spotted a door that looked different from the others.
"This it?" Knuckles asked, and I shrugged. "So, do we just break our way in, or…?"
I chuckled. "Yeah, it's always more fun that way, am I right?"
Knuckles shared my smirk. He was just as eager to break something as I was. Rearing back his fist, he smashed the door clear off his hinges. It landed on the floor on the other side of the room, taking the room's sole occupant Jerome Wise by surprise. Slapping the papers he was holding back onto the desk, Eggman's lackey panicked and cowered behind his chair, surprising us all.
While Knuckles guarded the door to make sure Jerome wouldn't get away, Tails and Cream looked around the office, and Amy and I approached him.
"So… Nice office you got here, Mr. Wise," I quipped.
"I didn't think you'd find me here," Jerome said, trying to ease his panic back down. "I knew you guys were here, but…"
"All this surveillance, and you let your guard down at the last minute?" Amy scoffed, putting her hand on her hip. "Lame."
"Yeah, I bet Eggman's gonna want to hear about this," Knuckles grinned.
I saw Jerome sitting back in the chair and reaching for his headset next to him on the table, and I knew he was trying to contact backup, so I stepped in and guided his hand away from it before he could put it on. To my surprise, he didn't put up much of a fight.
"You're outnumbered five to one, plus we just finished wiping out your bots, so that's not really gonna help you, bud," I told him.
It was amazing and a little sad how scared Jerome was of us. This was the first time all of us were near him in person.
"What do you want?" Jerome demanded. "Look, I can just call in reinforcements and it'll all be over for you."
"But you're not gonna do that," I said with a small smirk.
Jerome looked me in the eye, but he had to avert his gaze.
"I will," he fired back.
"You're scared," I pointed out. "I mean, look at you, you're shaking."
"Stop taunting me!" Jerome exclaimed.
"Look, we're not gonna hurt you," I promised him, trying to deescalate the situation.
"S-Sonic, look," Jerome said. "You can't tell anyone I'm here, okay? Not a soul. 'Cuz if the government finds out I'm here, it's all over. Eggman is my lifeline."
"You should have thought of that before you decided to join forces with him," Amy pointed out. "'Cuz now you're good and stuck."
"I-I didn't choose him, he chose me!" Jerome blurted.
I leaned against the table, throwing a glance up at the monitors to see if anyone was coming, before looking back at Jerome.
"Look, I get you're scared, but we're not gonna be here long," I said. "All we're here for is the passcode to the rocket outside and we'll be on our way. And I promise, we won't tell anyone we were here."
Jerome was fidgeting, stalling for time. It was clear to me he didn't want to do it.
"Hey, you gonna give us the code or not?" Knuckles asked, sounding impatient.
"I have my orders," Jerome said. "Now get out of my office or-"
"Mr. Wise," Amy bluntly said, instantly shutting up Eggman's assistant. "You ever think of what's gonna happen to you when Eggman fires the Eclipse Cannon again and blows up the planet?"
I didn't see that coming, and judging from the stunned look on Jerome's face, neither did he.
"Oh, please don't tell me…" Jerome said. "Eggman… set me up…"
"And that's why you should never trust a rotten egg," I stated.
"Fine, you want that code so badly, I'll get it for you, but you gotta stop Eggman before he blows up the planet," Jerome said as he turned to his computer and searched the databanks for the passcode. Amy turned to me.
"Sonic, what did he mean when he said Eggman chose him?" she asked, making sure Jerome couldn't hear me.
"We'll talk after," I told her, and she nodded.
"Just this once, I'm not gonna stop you," Jerome said as he pulled a piece of paper out of a drawer and wrote the code on it. "That would be counterproductive, and frankly, I'm not too keen on dying with the rest of– HEY! Get away from there!"
I looked over to see Tails looking at some of the papers Jerome had been holding before. Tails flinched and nervously backed away from the desk. Cream was scared by his sudden outburst too, and she crept back to the door where Knuckles was.
"You leave Tails alone!" Knuckles shouted back.
"That's top secret information!" Jerome argued as he leaned across the desk and gathered all the papers close to him, making sure no one could reach them. "And now you know too much. Now you're gonna make me call in reinforcements… but I can't because if I detain you, I'll die, and-"
"Hey, it's fine, we're on our way out, we got what we came for," I told him, trying to ease his nerves. "We'll let you have your space again. And you have my word, no one's ever gonna know you're here. And about the Eclipse Cannon, well… Let's just say you're gonna make it another day. So will the whole planet. No one dies on my watch."
Jerome didn't seem too relaxed as we left his office. Thanks to Knuckles and his strength, we didn't have to worry about closing the door.
"Well, that was something," Knuckles remarked once we were far enough away from the surveillance room.
"So, what did Jerome mean by Eggman choosing him?" Amy asked me again.
"I don't really know," I admitted, "but I'm thinking it has something to do with how he was acting before he got fired, and maybe Eggman saw something in him he liked. And then the government found out and fired him."
"They didn't arrest him?" Knuckles asked in puzzlement.
"Probably because they couldn't get to him," I speculated. "So they're just waiting for the right time to make their move."
Amy was still confused. "But why is he still working for Eggman, like… why is Eggman still allowing him to be here?" she asked.
"Maybe Mr. Sonic is right and Dr. Eggman likes him," Cream said."
"For now, at least," I pointed out. I knew he could always throw Jerome away when he was done with him, when his services were no longer needed.
"So Tails," Knuckles said quietly, "what were you looking at on his desk?"
Tails flinched, the memory of Jerome yelling at him still fresh in his head.
"It was robot plans," Tails recalled. "Except most of 'em looked exactly like the GUN robots we've been seeing lately."
Knuckles and I blinked in surprise.
"You sure?" I asked.
Tails nodded. "Yeah. Laser Hunters, Hot Shots, everything. And there was a lot of complex human stuff I don't really understand, but from what I could make out, Eggman made the robots, and he had Jerome give them to some guy named General C. Passer, and he distributed them to GUN as their own."
Amy gasped. "So in other words, the GUN robots are Eggman robots!"
"Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me," Tails agreed.
I was amazed that Tails learned all that from the papers in the few momths he had been looking at them.
"So that'll probably explain why GUN is on my tail lately," I noted. "'Cuz Eggman's controlling all the puppets… even the ones we don't think he's controlling."
"That does make a lot of sense when you put it that way, Sonic," Tails noted. "If Eggman made those robots, then of course he'd want to use them to frame you."
I nodded. "Yeah… It's pretty tricky… More than I can wrap my brain around right now… But for now, we gotta pick up the pace and get to that rocket."
"Yeah," Amy agreed as we started moving faster.
"Oh yeah, I brought the Miles Electric with me, which means if I get internet, I can look into the transfer on the way up," Tails said.
"It's gettin' late, bud," i told him, even though it was already very late. "So we should probably all get some sleep. You'll get time for research later, I promise!"
Tails nodded, not realizing he was feeling sleepy. "Yeah… you're right, Sonic," he said quietly.
When we made our way outside, I instantly felt a cold breeze chill me down to the skin beneath my fur. I had forgotten just how cold it was outside compared to the relative warmth in the hallways. I found myself regretting bringing a coat, and, looking over at Knuckles, I saw that he was feeling the same way too. He bundled his large hands around himself for warmth.
"Hey Tails, maybe you should bring the X-Tornado with you," I said. "'Cuz I don't think it's a good idea to leave it where Eggman can take it."
"Yeah," Tails said. "Be right back, guys!" He broke away from us and flew toward the deck at the front of the ship.
As we approached the rocket, I climbed the outer steps and squinted at the code. It was large enough for me to see without needing a magnifying glass, which was good enough for me. I held it up to the moonlight to see it better before entering it.
A tiny light on the keypad turned green before the airlock unlatched. I pushed it open and stepped inside, and Amy, Cream, and Knuckles followed me in.
The inside of the shuttle was way more complex than I could have bargained for. There were so many consoles, readouts, and controls everywhere. I had a limited knowledge of flying, but space vehicles were too tough for me to wrap my head around; and besides, I usually left the piloting to Tails.
Luckily for us, I saw some seats, as well as seat belts for when we would inevitably run into patches of zero gravity. There were also six beds on the other side of the main cabin.
"I think I saw a big cargo door outside," Amy noted as she walked further into the room. I nodded, confirming Amy's find.
"Perfect," Knuckles said. "Then we should find a switch or something that will open it up."
"For the X-Tornado?" Cream asked.
Knuckles nodded as he joined me in scanning the various consoles for a button or lever that would open the cargo door."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cream looking around the ship. She looked a little scared, and it was further evidenced by the slight whimper she let out. She held Cheese close to her like a teddy bear.
"You doing okay, Cream?" Amy asked as she approached her friend.
"Mm… I'm scared, Amy… I never flew in a rocket before…"
It was true; Cream was the only one out of all of us who had never been in space before. Sure, she could have stayed behind with Chuck and the others, but she was a team player, and besides, she was excited to help the rest of us find Chris.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," Amy told her as gently as she could. "We're all in this together, and we're doing this for Chris, right?"
Cream nodded before gently hugging Amy. Cheese joined in too.
"Yeah!" I agreed. "Chris is gonna be really happy to see us after all this time. Anyway, Knux, think this is it right here?"
"Hold on, let me see," Knuckles said as he came over and looked at the button I was gesturing to. "Your guess is as good as mine, so you tell me."
"Well, only one way to find out, right?" I quipped as I pressed the button. Suddenly my vision went black, and the first thing I heard was Cream letting out a yelo from behind me.
"Whoops, that was the lights," I said as I pressed it again, turning the lights back on. "Well, now we know what that button does!"
And then I saw more a obvious lever nearby that I hadn't noticed before. And it helped that it was labeled in tiny print that it was for the bay door, so I pulled the lever, and was rewarded with a hissing sound as the cargo door outside started opening.
"There you go!" Knuckles said.
"So yeah, now that we got that taken care of, let's see if there's a way we can see outside," I said, gesturing to the two overhead screens as I scanned the console one again. Amy and Cream joined me and Knuckles in the search.
"Hey, is this it?" Amy asked a moment later, pointing to a button on the other side of the console.
"Maybe?" I asked as I made my way over to her.
"It says 'outer cameras,' so…" Amy pressed the button, and the screens came to life. They showed various views outside the shuttle in split-screen, and on one of the cameras, I saw Tails in the distance walking the X-Cyclone toward the shuttle.
"Ayyy!" I cheered. "I knew there'd be one of those in here! Now we can see where we're landing when we get to the ARK."
"I'm pretty sure a lot of spaceships like this have those kinds of screens," Amy pointed out.
I yawned. "Yeah… You're right," I said. "I'm definitely gonna sleep on the way up." It had been a very long day for me, and I was a little off my game. The only thing I wanted as much as getting Chris back was sleep. In fact, I couldn't believe it was just today that I had woken up inside a solitary cell in Prison Island.
Just then we felt a jolt and heard a few low thumps from directly below us. Cream was a little nervous and stuck close to me and Amy.
"Hey, it's okay, Cream, it's just Tails getting the X-Tornado inside," I gently told her.
"Oh… okay," Cream said, starting to calm down a little.
A few moments later, the noises stopped, and Cream was able to calm down a bit.
"Chao?"
There was another sound from nearby, and Cheese floated over to investigate. Just then a door we didn't know was there opened in the floor, startling us all. Tails poked his head up through the opening.
"I didn't know there was a door there!" Cream said, holding Cheese and standing closer to me and Amy.
"Me neither," Amy said.
"Hi," Tails said, blushing slightly as he crawled the rest of the way out and closed the door behind him. "Sorry I scared you all. I just finished docking the X-Tornado."
"Hey, you're good, Tails," I said with a grin.
Tails made his way to the command chair and sat down. A moment's glance was all he needed to figure out the control panel. "Kinda like the other rocket…" he mused as he found a button and pressed it. The outside hatched closed, sealing us inside the rocket with a hiss. Cream jumped and clung to Amy.
"It's okay, it's okay Cream," Amy soothed, even though I knew she was nervous too.
"Anyone else feeling this weird sense of nostalgia?" Knuckles asked as he looked up at the monitors. "Like, in a bad way. Hope we're all prepared for… for anything."
"Yeah, you're not the only one, Knux," I said, leaning against the bunks.
"Coordinates set!" Tails said with a smile once he pressed the last button.
"And that's why you're the man, Tails!" I cheered as I gently ruffled his bangs. Tails blushed a little bit, before laughing softly.
"Thanks, Sonic!" he said. "Gonna need to concentrate while I get us through the final flight check."
"Alrighty then, I'll leave you to it!" I said, allowing myself to flop onto one of the beds. I let out a comfortable sigh. It felt so good to lie down. "Ohh, it's so good to lie down, I am way past tired right now!"
"Same…" Knuckles said quietly as he sat down on another bed. "Oh yeah, these beds got straps so we don't float away or anything."
"Good to know," I said, relaxation flowing through my whole body. It was so good being inside the warm space shuttle. It was a huge relief from spending nearly all day out in the cold.
"Wait… Does that mean we're going to float away…?" Cream asked, now frightened.
"It's all part of going in space," Amy said as she sat down on a third bed, and invited Cream to sit next to her. "It's gonna get pretty rough too. For a few minutes, you're gonna feel really bad pressure pushing down on us, and then you'll feel light as a feather." Amy said, trying to sound optimistic at the end. "But you don't wanna float around inside here, so that's why you're gonna wear these straps right here so you can stay safe in your bed."
"Okay," Cream said with a slight nod. "I will do my best to be brave for everyone."
Amy smiled and gently hugged her friend.
"But where will Cheese go?" Cream asked.
"Oh, um… There are six beds, so he can get the last one," Amy said, thinking quickly and pointing to the bed right above the one Knuckles was sleeping in.
"Okay," Cream said.
"And don't worry about the pressure, guys," Tails said. "This shuttle is really fast, and it wonlt be long until we're out of the worst of Earth's gravitational pull. But yeah, it's gonna feel pretty intense for a little bit."
"Yeah, but after that, we can all finally get some sleep," I said. Looking over, I could see that Knuckles was already trying to fall asleep, having forgotten to strap himself into his bunk.
"At my estimate, it'll take us around six to eight hours to get to the ARK," Tails announced.
"Um, that's like…" Amy looked at her comlink. "8 or 9 in the morning."
"I'm gonna start the rocket any second now, guys!" Tails said.
I propped myself up on the bunk's pillows "You still got the Chaos Emerald, right?" I asked.
"Yup! It's in the X-Tornado," Tails declared.
"Good to know," I said.
"Before we take off, you guys should strap yourselves in so you don't float away," Tails said. That got Knuckles' attention, and he woke up from dozing off and strapped himself in. I did the same, and so did Amy. After showing Cream how the straps worked, Cream flew up to Cheese's bunk and strapped him in before going to the bunk above Amy's and settling in.
As this was happening, Tails started the rocket. There was a tremendous roar as the engines ignited. The screens changed to a digital countdown timer, and Tails flew to the bunk above mine and strapped himself in. Now we were all secure and ready for takeoff.
Even with the walls being insulated, it was almost deafening inside, and I know that Tails and Cream were more sensitive to noise than me, Amy, and Knuckles, so I hoped we would be out of the worst of the takeoff before long.
My eyes were glued to the timer, and before long, the timer hit zero, and we had liftoff. The noise outside got even louder as the rocket took off. Cream let out a whimper, but I could barely hear her.
"Ohh… Forgot how much this hurt…" I said as it literally felt like the weight of the world was on top of me.
"It… feels like I have the whole Death Egg on my back…!" Knuckles added as he gritted his teeth.
"M-Mommy…" I could hear Cream say. This was one of the scariest things she had been through that didn't directly involve Eggman. I felt bad for her.
"We're doing this for Chris, guys!" I said.
"For Chris!" Tails groaned from above me as the pressure got worse.
As we rose higher and higher, I tried to rest to the best of my ability. I would need all my energy to stop Eggman, and neither him nor Shadow would stop me from rescuing my friend.
A/N: And that concludes "Shadow World"! I may or may not have snuck a few Easter egg references in this chapter ;)
Even though I mentioned it way back in chapter 11, I renamed the Earth version of GUN to "Guardians of the United Nations", while their Mobius counterpart kept their original name "Guardian Units of Nations".
Also, the scene I wrote between Tails and Chuck was originally not as emotional as the final result, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result. I really want to have more interactions between both of them, their interactions are some of my favorite character interactions in Sonic X.
Also, I was originally going to have a scene where Jerome was sent to General Passer to negotiate the transfer of the GUN robots to him, but I removed it in the final version because I found something else that worked better.
And just a heads-up, I'm going to merge the next two episodes together as one chapter, and the ending of this arc will be a bit different than the original episodes and game. Furthermore, neither Gerald Robotnik nor the Biolizard will appear in the next chapter, because I found a new way for the story to work. You might be scratching your heads after reading this, but don't worry, there will still be plenty of action!
Next time is "Robotnik's Revenge" and "Showdown in Space", where Sonic's friends arrive at the ARK, and Shadow shows his true colors! Don't miss it!
