Part 1
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A black car with 1 way windows stopped in a quiet neighborhood. Green grass blew in the wind around sidewalks made of sand and dirt. Houses of different colors dotted the side of the algae road way. The steep roofs shot into the sky, daring rain and snow to test their might. But in the starless night sky, not even a single cloud flew overhead. Only the crescent moon shown, leaving the streets in darkness.
The darkness only grew with the black car's headlights turning off. The purr of its engine stopped, and the door opened as Dr. Robotnick stepped out. He walked to his mailbox pulling out a letter that caught his attention with its handwriting. A small smile formed on his face, when he noticed a figure approaching in the distance. He saw a young boy walking a scruffy brown dog. Next to the boy, a balding man with gray hair waved at Robotnick.
Robotnick turned to the man. "Thornjaw. How are you?"
"Well, I suppose I'm all right. Though my family's been in an uproar lately. Can't get two words in without someone mentioning Sonic's disappearance. Least of all my grandson." Thornjaw smirked at the young boy who rolled his eyes. "How about you Ivo?"
Robotnick sighed. "Well, work is work I suppose. Though it's certainly been a little more stressful lately." He chuckled to himself holding up a letter. "At least I have something good to make my day."
Thornjaw looked at the letter, recognizing the handwriting. "So, your eldest finally decides to write. How is Shadow anyway?"
Robotnick rolled his eyes. "You know as well as I do. I know he's busy keeping the world safe, but I'd appreciate getting to talk to him every now and then. Maybe I should give him a call." He tucked the letter into his pocket heading for his house.
"Well then I won't hold you up, have a good night." Thornjaw and his grandson kept walking.
Robotnick glanced back before pulling out a circular key and unlocking his front door. He stepped inside, placing his red trench coat on a wooden coat rack. He walked into the living room and made his way to the kitchen. He sat at a table in the kitchen opening the letter.
Dear Ivo,
Hope everything's going well. Sorry I haven't written or called recently. We've been working in hostile territory for the last month and couldn't use phones at all. Things have gotten crazy, but nothing I can't handle. Actually, I get some leave time at the end of the month, so I'll have a chance to visit.
Shadow
P.S. Tell Sonic I said hi. Don't tell him I said this, but I have missed that blue fur ball.
As Robotnick looked at the letter he went from rolling his eyes to excitement. But by the end, his face had grown grim, feeling as though he were aging years within the span of two sentences. He tried thinking to himself how he'd explain his actions, and what he needed to do to keep the city safe. But the more he thought, the more he hated himself. He turned to a window showing his reflection, and he wanted to shatter it, break it into a million pieces so he didn't have to look at himself. What was he doing? Could he really do this to his own family? Sonic hadn't been captured yet, so he didn't have to do anything yet. But it was only a matter of time. Sooner or later he'd be forced to take away Sonic's free will, even if just partially. What he'd be doing was the greatest betrayal of all. He tried to deny it, but James was right. Sonic was his family.
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Part 2
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A white bat-like creature glided through the night sky. Night vision goggles helped it view the surrounding ground to spot her target. He had to be down there somewhere. Based on the intelligence she'd gathered, there was nowhere else Sonic could be. His systems gave off a surprisingly easy to track signal. How Chaos Containment hadn't captured that hedgehog, was behind her. But Rouge wasn't about to complain about a high payday, even if her target was as dangerous as she thought.
She didn't believe those stories though. Someone breaking the sound barrier and surviving a 10 story drop were hard enough to believe, but single handedly taking down a terrorist organization was ridiculous. Still, rumors had to come from somewhere. Some might be entirely made up, but some likely had some truth. After all, she had seen him outrun a police squadron car, and his skill with martial arts was concerning as well.
There was also the concern with Knuckles. That anarchist might not be that bright, but his strength was still a threat. His resourcefulness also needed to be exceptional to avoid arrest for so many years. Hopefully she could avoid him, but his bounty made it worth nabbing him too. Not that she'd be able to take on 2 fighters of at least level 2 threat level. Sonic was probably closer to level 5, but she didn't think he'd be any higher than a level 6. He wasn't Shadow after all. A fight with that monster would be suicide, she just had to hope Shadow didn't come after her for this. For a moment she had second thoughts about going after Sonic, but as long as she didn't break any laws Shadow wouldn't have any excuse to come after her. Besides, he was thousands of miles away.
For now she just had to focus on finding Sonic. He'd started giving off some weird readings on her trackers, but there was no doubt it was him. No one had energy like Sonic's except Amy, but she was still locked up. Knuckles seemed to have the same energy as she'd expected, but there was another energy signature that bothered her. It wasn't very strong, but any level of chaos energy was concerning.
Rouge dove down through the clouds to get a better view of the rocky hills below. The tracker showed the life signs were close enough that she should be able to see them fairly soon. Then she found herself getting further away from them. She circled around, and kept following the tracker, but as she got closer and closer to the ground, something felt off. They were almost directly below her, but further away than the ground. "What in the world? How did they get underground?"
Rouge landed before checking around for any caves nearby. If they were in caves, then it made sense for Sonic and his new partner in crime to feel safe. Maybe it was possible they'd have their guard down and she could take them down in their sleep. That was a dangerous line of thought though, she had to be ready for a fight.
She clicked on the side of her goggles making a screen pop up. Her scanner had made a map of the area and there seemed to be several caves nearby. Rouge flapped her wings just enough to get airborne before gliding over to the nearest cave entrance she'd fit through. She turned a dial on her watch to amplify any sounds coming from the cave. The device made the sound of wind and dripping water, but there weren't any voices. She went over to another entrance, then another, checking for any sounds of sentient life.
After 3 hours of searching, there was no sign of her targets. Rouge felt her eyes drooping a little. Even if she managed to find Sonic right now, she wouldn't be able to fight him. She tapped the device on her wrist, setting up an alarm. Then she lay down in a soft dry patch of dirt. She could keep searching for her targets later, once her strength was back.
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Part 3
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As the rising night sky cast a massive canyon in shadow, 3 figures stood at the edge of a 100 meter tall cliff: Shadow, Silver, and an echidna with pink and orange fur. They turned on their night vision goggles, checking their surroundings for any threats. Shadow, a hedgehog with black fur covered in red lines, nodded to his companions to make sure their timing was synced. His piercing eyes glowed with a dim red light of solemn determination as the trio jumped into the abyss below. Silver, a silver hedgehog, shot a green light from his hands. As the light surrounded the 3 figures, their fall slowed before they gently landed on the bottom of the cliff.
Shadow looked at his companions, motioning with 2 fingers toward a massive, granit archway. Carvings lined its entire length, glowing with pink energy. The trio went through the archway, entering a sprawling cavern lined with glowing crystals and mushrooms that seemed to suck in any light around them like black holes. The cavern stretched out of sight as the trio ran through. As they went further and further, a low hum became audible. Shadow and Silver tensed as they got closer, but the third figure was shivering.
The hum got louder and louder as a pale blue glow appeared. It reached across the cavern walls growing brighter and brighter as the trio got closer. Their goggles adjusted for the light change as they saw a two-legged creature made of clear liquid, the source of the light. It had a chaos emerald in each of its shoulders. Its forked tail wrapped around a chaos emerald on a metal stand in the center of the cave. As the trio approached the creature absorbed the chaos emerald, its blue light growing brighter. The emerald appeared in the creature's chest as the light faded.
It turned toward the trio with an ear splitting screech. "Eegh!" The trio covered their eyes, except Shadow who ran at the creature. A sonic boom exploded behind him as he shot into the creature. The creature stretched out in a hole, letting Shadow fly through. Shadow stopped just short of the cave wall as Silver caused rocks from the caves to shoot at the creature. It dodged left and right, morphing into different shapes and sometimes letting itself get hit. The rocks aimed for the chaos emeralds, but kept missing.
Shadow ran at the creature, stopping right in front of it. He punched the creature over so fast, his movements blurred. Ripples and bubbles formed on the creature as its body vibrated back and forth. The creature's chaos emeralds stopped moving as quickly the rocks started hitting them.
The emeralds looked ready to come loose when they started glowing. The rocks started bouncing off the creature, and its ripples disappeared. Energy blasted Shadow back as the creature screamed again, sending everyone even Shadow to the ground. The chaos emeralds grew brighter and brighter as the screaming got louder and louder. A blinding light filled the cave and the creature's screams died away.
It sagged trying to keep its form intact as Shadow yelled. "Tikal! Now!"
Tikal, the echidna, thrust her hands out, sucking the creature into a jewel on her neck. The creature pulled back and Tikal fought to suck it in. Silver and Shadow attacked the creature, sending its emeralds flying. Then, the creature was gone, sucked into the jewel.
Tikal fell back into Shadow's appearing arms. She forced a whisper out. "Five minutes..." Shadow nodded, picking her up and shooting out of the cave. Everything blurred around as he ran faster and faster the landscape and even climate changing around him: brown to blue, hot to cold, dry to wet.
As he kept going he counted the time in his head: 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 30 seconds. He stopped at the top of a staircase, laying Tikal on the ground. She struggled to keep conscious as Shadow spoke. "Come on. One more step."
Tikal forced herself up, looking at an enormous green chaos emerald. Putting her hands out, she drew from its power, sending the creature into the massive emerald. Then, she let herself fall asleep.
Shadow lay her down gently breathing a sigh of relief. He pressed a device on his ear. "Agent Shadow reporting. Chaos has been contained."