Chapter 21: SA2 Finale
"What the…?" Knuckles said, wondering who the heck this old man was.
"Professor Gerald…" Tangle said.
"Huh? How do you…?" Tails asked.
"I'll explain later… what's going on here?" Tangle asked.
"This… is a death sentence to all of humanity." Professor Gerald said.
"What?!"
"All you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me… will feel my loss… and despair."
"Wh-what is he…?" Amy asked.
Then, the entire colony began to shake.
"What's going on?!" Knuckles asked.
"I don't know… but I know how we can find out!" Tails said as they all began to run to the control center of the arc, but not before a timer appeared on the screen.
"Twenty Seven minutes… that's not much time at all…" Tangle said.
"We'll figure this out… we have to!" Tails said.
"Right!" Tangle said as they continued to run… though she and Amy were lagging behind a bit. "Sorry Amy…"
"Don't be, I'll always be happy to help my friends!" Amy said.
"Don't go into a battle when you know you're going to be a liability."
"Eggman! What's going on?!" Tails asked as they approached the Doctor.
"Who is that guy?!" Amy asked.
"Professor Gerald Robotnik… my grandfather." Eggman said.
"HUH?!"
"No wonder they looked so similar…" Tangle said to herself.
Then, the Ark began to shake once again.
"It… looks like it's all over for us." They heard Rouge said from behind them. "I just got word from the ground… the ark is heading towards Earth at an alarming speed."
"So… that's his game, crash this place into the planet to destroy it…" Tangle said.
"And with the Chaos Emeralds at the center of the Ark… it'll cause a massive explosion beyond anything that we can comprehend." Eggman said. "There would be no surviving that…"
"So… that's what's going on."
Everyone looked over to see Sonic walking over.
"Seriously? You're still alive?" Eggman asked. "Just how stubborn are you?"
"Very." Sonic said. "Now, what do we do about this?"
"Hmm… well, the Chaos Emeralds are acting as a propulsion system for the Ark… if we can somehow deactivate them…" Eggman said.
"Well, it's a good thing we have that thing!" Tangle said, pointing towards Knuckles.
"Who you calling a thing?!"
"Not you, the Master Emerald!" Tangle groaned out.
"Oh… WHAT ARE YOU CALLING A THING?!" Knuckles asked, even louder than before.
"Oh, just listen." Tangle said. "Remember what Tikal said? The Master Emerald has the power to cancel out the power of the Chaos Emeralds!"
"Of course I remember… wait, that's it!" Knuckles said.
"Right, if we can take the Master Emerald to the Chaos Emeralds, we can stop all of this!" Tangle said. "Good thing it's here, or else we would be toast!"
Rouge just smiled warily. "Yeah! That's why it's here! Always was the plan to use it to stop the Chaos Emeralds just in ca-"
"You just wanted to steal it." Tangle said flatly.
"Yeah."
"Right, so we have a plan! Let's get to work!" Sonic said.
"Right!"
"Tangle, you coming with me and Knuckles?" Sonic asked.
"Me?"
"Yeah, this was your idea, you should see it through to the end." Sonic said.
"Ri-"
"Don't go into a battle when you know you're going to be a liability."
"…"
"Tangle?"
"Sorry Sonic… but I'm going to sit this one out." Tangle said.
"Really? Why?"
"I… I can't really walk anymore." She explained as she shook her left leg. "Too much more abuse… and I might end up completely wrecking my foot…"
Sonic smiled at this. "Right, and we can't have that. Just get some rest, ok?"
"Right… just… promise me that you'll get the job done." Tangle said.
"Of course!"
"Bocoe, Decoe, you go with Sonic and Knuckles. Carry the Master Emerald for them." Eggman commanded.
"Yes sir!"
"Tangle…" Amy said as they were looking out a window.
"Yeah?"
"Why… didn't you want to go with them?" Amy asked.
"I already said why, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but I know you better than that." Amy said. "You would normally be jumping at the opportunity to help, injury or not."
"Yeah well… this time it's too important." Tangle said. "We don't have much time at all… we can't risk me slowing them down."
"Still…"
"Hmph, smart move."
The group turned around to see Shadow walking into the room.
"Shadow…"
"You'd only get in the way, it was smart of you to stay here." Shadow explained.
"Geez, no need to be so harsh…" Amy said.
"Shadow… are you going to go and help them?" Chris asked.
"Why should I?" Shadow asked.
"Cause the whole planet will be destroyed!" Chris said.
"And why should I care?" Shadow asked.
"Because…"
"Chris… let me handle this." Tangle said.
"Tangle?"
Tangle then limped over towards Shadow.
"Tell me, why shouldn't you care? An entire planet is about to be killed, and you're just gonna stand here and watch?" Tangle asked.
"Hmph, you wouldn't understand." Shadow said.
"Try me."
"This is all for revenge… this is what the Professor wants… what Maria wants." Shadow said.
"Maria?" Chris asked.
Then, something surprising happened.
Tangle began laughing.
"And what's so funny?" Shadow asked.
"… You really are an idiot." Tangle said.
"Huh?"
"Do you really expect me to believe that THIS is what Maria wants?!" Tangle asked. "If you really think that, then you didn't know Maria!"
"Don't talk about something you know nothing about!" Shadow shouted.
"BUT I DO KNOW!" Tangle shouted back. "I know all about this place. About Professor Gerald, about Maria, about you!"
"How could you possibly…"
"You were created to cure Maria's NIDS." Tangle said, causing Shadow to stop. "Then, the two of you grew close, playing together… talking together…
There were several times where they had you help when there was an accident on the Ark… you saved lives back then, and you did it with a smile on your face.
But then, a bunch of soldier's came… they arrested or killed everyone… and they killed her, right in front of you."
Shadow stayed silent at this.
"Tell me… do you remember the promise you made to Maria?" Tangle asked.
"I promised her revenge…"
"No… you promised that the two of you would go down to Earth one day… together." Tangle said. "She loved that planet… and now you are just going to let it be destroyed!"
Shadow eyes went wide.
"Come over here." Tangle said as she limped over to the window.
Shadow complied.
"Don't you recognize this view? This is the exact view that you had when you made that promise…" Tangle explained.
Shadow just stared off into space, quite literally, as a tear rolled down his cheek.
He really did forget.
But now, he remembered.
"… Thank you…" Shadow said.
"Huh?"
"I have to go now… and fulfill my promise to Maria… my true promise." Shadow said. "And… my promise to you."
"Shadow… good luck." Tangle said with a smile.
Shadow looked back at her and smiled, before he teleported away.
"Tangle… how did you know all of that?" Amy asked.
Tangle smiled. "I got some help from a friend."
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?!" Tangle asked as the Prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform suddenly merged with the Ark, intent on making sure it crashed into the planet.
"Shadow's prototype…" Eggman explained.
"That, is gross…"
Moments later though, Sonic appeared, in his super form.
"Sonic…?" Tangle asked.
Sonic then floated towards her, and put a hand on her shoulder.
And just like magic, the pain in her foot started to fade away.
"What?"
Sonic didn't say anything, and smiled as he vanished.
Putting her foot on the ground, Tangle couldn't help but smile.
That guy really was too much sometimes.
So, Tangle went back over to the window, and watched as Sonic and Shadow saved the day.
"Gotta admit… we really cut things close this time…" Tangle said.
"I'll say." Tails said. "All that's left is to wait for Sonic to come back, and we can all go home!"
"Yeah… going home sounds pretty good right now." Tangle said.
Sure enough, Sonic walked into the room shortly later… but he had a bit of a hesitant look on his face.
"Hey! Good job out there dude!" Tangle said.
Then, she noticed how tense he looked.
"Wait… where's Shadow?"
Sonic didn't answer, he just shook his head.
"…No…" Tangle said.
Sonic walked over and placed a ring in her hands. "I'm sorry… that's all I could find…"
Tangle didn't respond, as tears began to fall from her eyes.
Everyone began to grieve in their own way, and decided that they should head out, and head back to the world that Shadow gave everything to save.
"…Sayonara… Shadow the Hedgehog…" Tangle said as she left.
…
"Don't go into a battle when you know you're going to be a liability."
End of Chapter 21
Can you tell what the next couple of chapters are gonna be about yet?
Anyways, this is the end of the SA2 arc. No real epilogue, it kinda ties into the next little arc that I am planning.
If you are wondering how Sonic fixed Tangle's foot, in the Japanese dub of Sonic X, he has an ability called "Chaos Regeneration" which is basically a healing move. They changed it to just Chaos Control in the english dub though.
Anyways… let's talk about Sonic Adventure 2. This was actually my first Sonic game, and my personal favorite. If you've heard this a lot before, then it is probably because this was the first Sonic game to release on a Nintendo console, being the Gamecube. Yeah, the port of Sonic Adventure 1 didn't come out until AFTER Sonic Adventure 2's port! Just some fun trivia for you :)
Anyways, I love the story and the gameplay is in my opinion extremely fun. Honestly, a lot of what I said for SA1 applies here, so let's just talk about what sets this game apart from the other. First of all, getting 100% in this game is so much better. The missions are a lot different from each other, and don't just amount to "get to the end with this extra thing you gotta do." The Chao garden… oh boy the Chao Garden.
Nowadays, I do not have the patience for it, I will admit… but when I was a kid? That was such an amazingly fun part of the game. I am not ashamed to admit that I made a Chaos Chao when I was a kid.
But the thing that by far sets this game ahead of SA1 by a long shot, has to be the multiplayer. I remember that me and my brother spent so much time playing the multiplayer together, competing in races, mech battles and treasure hunting battles that the disk got scratched up to the point that it was literally unusable… and we didn't even beat the last story yet at that point, so we had to get another copy to do that. Then, when we got a new copy… we ended up playing the multiplayer so much AGAIN, that the reader on the gamecube broke off! YEAH! WE PLAYED TOO MUCH FOR THE GAMECUBE TO HANDLE! We enjoyed the multiplayer THAT MUCH!
Sonic Adventure 2 is my favorite Sonic Game… and was for a REALLY long time, my #1 favorite game. It's not without it's problems though, as I think the treasure hunting missions were a bit of a downgrade mechanic wise, cause let's be real, having the tracker work for all 3 emeralds at once was so much better…
Anyways, the next chapter is finally leaving the game adaptation territory for a bit, so I'll let you know that it takes place during episode 39.
So, I'll see you then!
