A/N: I'm back with yet another chapter, and it hasn't even been a whole month yet! New record! Woohoo! :D And this time, we're gonna see a certain edgelord show up ;) #OwTheEdge
Not much to say this time, except I haven't seen the Frontiers trailer yet, but I hear it's really good.
I would like to thank Chinerpeton, Rodimus973, Fire Dragon of Miracles, and Super duper waffles for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
Shoutout of the chapter goes to dbehi1, they are writing their own Sonic crossover story partially based on my story!
Also, I want to give a bonus shoutout to SuperTailsFan0812, aka OliviaGames1208! Today is the three-year anniversary of her first fanfiction! She's still on hiatus here, but check out her stories on Wattpad. She goes by OliviaGames1208 over there as well.
Speaking of Wattpad, I just created a Wattpad account of my own a week ago. I go by Stardown77 over there too; eventually I'll be porting Chaos on Earth there too, and I'm debating if I should post my Sonic X oneshots here or there.
This chapter will have a bit more substance than the last chapter, so buckle your seat belts and get ready to speed, keed! :D
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
9 Reviews
denisegalante1009
You'll see ;)
GuardianDragon98
Yes we are! :D
blazenight01
Yeah... But a lot of people don't know about the existence of the Mobius GUN, and those that do probably assume the two GUNs aren't connected. But I like that theory!
VirgoDrago
It's okay, take your time! I can't wait to see your review and hear your theories!
dbehi1
Basically sums up the last chapter XD
User
I don't really ship Shadow and Rouge together, I see them more as teammates than lovers, but thank you for your idea anyway!
Super duper waffles
I haven't given it that much thought, but it would cause a lot of complications if Sega does appear in this continuity, so I'm gonna say it doesn't appear. However, it's a version of Earth where things like Nintendo, Microsoft, etc. can still exist without Sega existing.
Station Square is the only location that exists on both Earth and Mobius, and that, combined with the moon and the stars, show that Earth and Mobius are in the same place in different dimensions.
I didn't give that much thought either, but this is a really interesting question. I started this story in 2018, so I picked dates from a few years in the future. In chapter 13 (ep 13), September 15 is on a Saturday, and the nearest year that has September 25 on a Saturday is 2021, so that's the year that Sonic and friends arrived on Earth. Therefore, this current chapter is taking place on Thursday, December 22, 2022!
Thank you for your questions! :D
CreativeKitty975
Yeah... Sonic is gonna be in way over his head this time.
That would be incredible if the real Shadow shows up and runs into his Phantom self! XD I can imagine Shadow will ve very angry that Eggman is once again using the Phantom Ruby.
Thank you! Here is the next chapter!
denisegalante1009
As far as I know, sadly, Tangle and Whisper aren't gonna appear in this story, but I do hope to write with them in other stories.
Chapter 32
Episode 34
Manhunt! Rouge's Mysterious Expedition
Doppelganger
The White House – Thu December 22; 5:15 PM EDT – Third-person POV
The day had been turned upside down in an instant.
One moment, Sonic had been discussing the Mobius Redux with the President, and the next, the guest of honors was unceremoniously hauled away by the Secret Service. The President wanted answers just as much as everyone else in the room did.
"I have to tell Topaz about this," Rouge said as she paced the room. "This is serious."
"No," Christina Cooper told her. "You're staying here."
Rouge was surprised. "What?! But this is important, you can't-"
"I know what you want, but this is not something we can jump to conclusions on. For now, the majority of the public is split on the legitimacy of the video. Some are taking it seriously, but others think it's just a parody video – an internet meme, if you will. We don't want our citizens to panic, do we?"
"She has a fair point, Rouge," the President added. "If we find that it's real, we'll hand the footage over to the media and act accordingly, if it's real, that is."
"Fine…" Rouge relented. This was the downside of working with the government. Despite all the perks, they kept her on a short leash sometimes.
Minutes later, Rod Stafford, who had been summoned in, stepped into the room.
"I assume you have the evidence with you?" the President said.
"Yes, Mr. President," Stafford answered as he opened the laptop he had brought with him.
Shortly after Sonic was taken away, the President and the Chief of Staff started seeking for video footage that proved Sonic was a criminal, because they had not seen it yet. Stafford had contacted the President, asking if he saw it yet, and that he had footage on his laptop sent directly to him by the government in Arizona.
"This footage was captured on CCTV in Phoenix," he explained as he loaded the video file.
"Let's see what we got here," the President said as he leaned forward.
"I saw it myself, there's no sound on this file," Stafford added as he tapped the touchpad to play the video.
The color footage showed an armored car in front of a bank. In the blink of an eye, faster than the camera's framerate, Sonic ran up to the armored car and spin-dashed through the back doors of the vehicle. Some of the pedestrians in the area were shocked and backed away in disbelief. When two guards approached the vehicle, there was a sudden green blast fired at them from inside, throwing them back. Seconds later, Sonic stepped out of the armored car with an armful of firearms, and in the next moment, he was gone.
Everyone was stunned, most of all Rouge. It was horrifyingly real. Maybe it wasn't the redux after all…
"I… I have to go…" she whispered as she backed out of the room.
"No," Christina instructed. "Don't be rash–"
"No, this can't wait!" Rouge fired back. "I know you're all being professional and doing your job and all, but on my planet, we don't leave anyone behind. I'm more of a renegade gal myself, but there was a time where I used to work alongside the Freedom Fighters together, and the Resistance. Their number one rule was 'Never abandon your teammates.' Everyone always looked out for each other like family. Believe me, I have never seen closer friends than those guys. And right now, Sonic's going to who knows where, and since Big Blue's my associate, I'm not gonna stop until I find out what's going on with him."
The room was quiet after Rouge's rant. Even Christina looked like she stood corrected.
"Very well then," the President spoke. "So what are you going to do?"
"Oh, me? I'm off to Superior," Rouge asked without missing a beat. "It's nice this time of year."
"You don't wanna go there, trust me," the President firmly warned her. "Superior has the highest security standards of any prison in the United States."
"That's really not saying much if you ask me," Rouge shrugged. "Didn't keep me out of Eggy's HQ when I was starting out. Didn't keep Sonic out of Area 99 when he got here."
As she turned to leave, she looked back at everyone in the room.
"After all… Wasn't this the kind of thing you guys hired me for to begin with?"
She let those words hang in the air as she flapped her wings and took off down the hall. The room was quiet once again as Cooper and Stafford looked back at the President. Cooper opened her mouth to speak, but the President stopped her.
"Let her go," he said. "She knows what she's doing, and… Frankly, I'm quite impressed." Stafford nodded.
"…So do we release this to the media, or…?" Christina asked.
With his attention back on the security footage, the President let out a heavy sigh.
"Yes," he said. "This alone is enough to incriminate Sonic on a federal level. But there has to be more to this. He's not a criminal."
"But it clearly shows Sonic the Hedgehog breaking into an armored car and stealing multiple GUN-grade firearms," Stafford spoke passionately. "What more do you wanna see?"
"Don't jinx it," the President warned.
"But what I don't get is that green energy Sonic was using," Christina said.
The President hummed in interest. "I'm probably speculating here, but I'm thinking he's using a Chaos Emerald to do that."
"Oh?" Stafford said.
The President nodded. "We all remember back when he destroyed Dr. Eggman's original headquarters, he used two Chaos Emeralds and gained the ability to fly around, just like his super state, but on a much weaker scale."
"I see," Christina said. "And that does make sense when you say it like that."
Stafford stepped away to take a phone call as President Remerson looked at Cooper.
"In his PSAs, Sonic doesn't condone using guns unless it's to protect yourself, and as far as I know, he's never touched one himself before."
"He's an American's American, that's for sure," Christina said. "At least until today. But now, I have my doubts."
"Phoenix is not the only one," Stafford called as he got off the phone. "We got LA, Boise, Denver, even St. Louis. He's breaking into armored cars and stealing not just guns, but cash, phones – even car-jacking! It's a miracle he didn't hurt anyone, not that he's trying. But if you ask me, they all seem like random crimes."
The President was left speechless. His hero – his country's hero – the one he had secretly looked up to… Sonic the Hedgehog had turned and become a criminal overnight. There had to be answers, but for now, he had to take it at face value.
He folded his arms across his desk.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to this," he said. "I can't believe it's come down to this, but we need to alert the media. The country has the right to know."
Minneapolis – Thu December 22; 6:43 PM CDT – Third-person POV
Rouge didn't know how much longer she could hold on to the plane.
As it circled around before making its final approach toward Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Rouge took a deep breath and let it out to ease her racing heart and heightened nerves – something that was hard to do given the fact that she was moving forward at just under 500 miles an hour. Sonic the Hedgehog was on board the plane she was hitchhiking, and she couldn't let him out of her sight, especially since he was very likely being used as part of the redux.
It had been tight, and she didn't know how she did it, but she had been able to sneak past all the security officers and ride on the plane's wing undetected. She was sure someone had seen her, but it was too late for them to do anything, because she had been long gone since then.
Rouge was sure the President and his aides weren't too pleased with her just up and waltzing out the door like that, but she didn't want formality to get in the way of morals. She knew something was up, and she had to act by her instincts and find out what happened to Sonic and how he got framed.
As much as she kept telling herself that it wasn't really Sonic who was committing all those crimes, something about that didn't settle well in her gut. The more she thought about it, the more it reminded her of another event that happened just like this.
But this time, however, it really was Sonic.
Her plan of attack once she arrived at Superior was to sneak onto the island and eavesdrop on the guards there to see if she could learn anything about Sonic. She didn't expect to discover anything more than they did, but it was worth a shot. As for the rescue itself, she would leave that to Sonic's closer friends who would undoubtedly come and save him. But if bad became worse, she would try to rescue Sonic herself.
But as the plane was landing, a sudden bright glint from the ground caught her eye. Her goal was immediately forgotten, and she flew down from the plane toward the object. However, she had a tough time regaining control of her flight due to the plane's speed; however, she took frequent glances at the plane so she wouldn't lose it.
She landed on the ground, immediately dealing with a cold shock from landing in knee-deep snow, and unearthed the blue Chaos Emerald. Its glow immediately melted all the snow covering it before she could brush it off herself.
She glanced up before flapping her wings and taking off. She decided to let the plane go; Sonic could wait for now. Instead, she could give the Emerald to Eggman and get on his good side. Chances were good he was playing a big part in all of this, and she could hang around and see if she could learn more about the Mobius Redux.
A GUN military helicopter – Thu December 22; 7:05 PM CDT – Sonic's POV
I was not sure how it happened, but one moment, I was talking with the President about history repeating, and the next, I found myself handcuffed and sitting between two GUN soldiers inside a helicopter. Everything went south really fast, and the next part of the redux happened without any warning at all. It especially took me off guard, and I thought I would have been the first to know if something wasn't right.
I had complied with every order I had been given, and as far as I knew, I didn't do anything to resist my arrest, nor did I ask anyone any questions. I knew someone would interrogate me eventually, and I would probably get a few answers through that if I was lucky. But this was GUN I was dealing with. Even on Earth, they were always "shoot first, ask questions later".
I thought about escaping, just like the last time I was in a situation like this one, but I wanted to see how things would shake out first. Even so, I knew things would work out eventually if everyone else knew I was being captured. Then they would come to my rescue, just like the last time.
At the Minneapolis airport, I was transferred to a helicopter, since Superior didn't have its own airstrip from what I could gather. They instead had a helipad.
I started to drift off to sleep thanks to the helicopter's monotonous drone.
"ETA 1:10," the pilot suddenly spoke, waking me up. I yawned, so I couldn't hear the pilot giving his position, not that it mattered, because it was just a bunch of numbers.
"We have your position," Mission Control said from the other end. "Requesting report on the prisoner's status."
"He is secure, repeat, he is secure. He has not spoken since departure," the pilot said.
"You know, you have been rather quiet," one of the soldiers said, prodding me a bit. "That's not like you. Do you even know what you did?"
I shrugged in response. I figured I could go with the typical 'whatever it was, I didn't do it' response, but I would have had a better chance using that excuse in the past than the present, and even then in the past, they probably wouldn't buy it. They were too smart, so there went that excuse out the window.
I looked around. Speaking of window…
"Hey, can you guys crack the window open a bit? It's getting a bit stuffy in here."
I didn't even bother waiting for a response before I leaped up and started shredding the helicopter door. It was pretty tough to do with handcuffs.
"Hey!" the soldiers shouted from behind me as they tried to restrain me, but I was able to see them in the corner of my vision and kicked them back into their seats.
"Nothing personal, folks!" I called as I finished cutting through the door. "I just get a bit–"
I was suddenly met with an incredible rushing wind and roar from outside. The sound of the chopper's rotors was deafening, but I didn't have time to care. I glanced down, and grinned when I saw that the helicopter had stabilizer wings. Now I could escape the old-fashioned way.
I didn't have enough time to take a deep breath because the guards were once again breathing down my neck. In a split second, I ran out onto the wing and sawed it off. I made sure the back rotor didn't hit me as I did that, even though I was already heavily buffeted by the wind the top rotor generated.
As the wing fell toward the city, I expertly landed on top of it, leveling it out under my feet as I fell with it. I could hear a few gunshots ring out from behind me, but I was falling so fast that none of the bullets came close to hitting me.
Man, you guys don't have popcorn and movies on your flights either? I thought. What a drag, and this is supposed to be first-class flying. Flight attendants are a bit pushy too. Oh well, I get to be Shaun White again!
I looked down, hoping I could find a suitable place to land below me. But unlike the last time, I wasn't directly over the city. I was over a somewhat rural area. In my situation, it was actually better that way because not as many people would see me this time around.
As cool as it would have been to take my board out on the snow, I knew it would take me out instead if I stayed on it when I landed. I couldn't afford such a rough landing, so when I neared the ground, I kicked the wing away from me and hit the ground running along the snow-covered road.
I ran for several miles, frequently glancing back to make sure I couldn't see the helicopter anymore, because I figured that if I could see it, it could see me, and I didn't want that to happen.
Once I was sure I was safely away from the helicopter, I stopped behind a tree and worked at getting the handcuffs off my wrists. I couldn't move my arms very well, which meant the cuffs were doing their job well. But I had already been in a situation like this one before, so I knew what to do.
I spun in place for a bit, and I had to move my arms backwards in a very tight and painful position so my spines could cut the handcuffs off. Just when I thought I couldn't get them off by any conventional means, they finally came off and landed quietly in the snow. But that still left the individual cuffs on my wrists. I could worry about them later, but all that mattered now was that my hands were free at last.
However, I was far from free.
I took off running again along the US highway. There were a few cars here and there, but nothing too serious. I didn't know if anyone would report me or not, but I couldn't take any chances. There was a national order for my arrest. No one would tell me what I supposedly did, and I was never one to like being left in the dark for long.
I didn't get to see my doppelganger in person, but it was pretty obvious to me who he was. I never once saw Shadow since I first arrived on Earth, so I figured Eggman was using a Phantom Ruby illusion of Shadow to frame me, and if that was what he was doing, then I had to hand it to him, it was quite convincing.
I had barely run two miles up the highway when I heard the sound of a truck honking from behind me. I held back a yelp, hoping it wasn't what I thought it was. When I glanced behind me, I wish I hadn't.
Great, you got these things here too? I thought as I saw a massive GUN truck bearing down on me!
My instinct was to take off running from it just like the last time, which I did. I took another look behind me, and I was shocked to see that it was keeping up with me. It didn't matter how fast I ran, because it was able to match its pace with mine.
Oh… Well, that figures. You got snow tires… and flamethrowers… and buzzsaws. So this thing's a Swiss army truck, huh?
Sure enough, it was using its dreaded weapons to try and bring me to justice, but no matter how much the GUN truck tried to roast me and carve me into a Christmas turkey, I was too fast for it. Not even its blaring horn fazed me.
But then I realized something. Besides the Valkyries, I had never seen GUN use such technology on Earth before. In fact, this was quite unnatural. Something felt a little off about the GUN truck.
Even though I could jump to supersonic speed and escape the truck altogether, I wanted to see if I could toy with it a little first, so I turned onto a side road at a 90-degree angle. Without stopping, I looked back to see if it could make such a maneuver. As the truck swung around the corner, it almost veered off the road, but it managed to remain upright.
"Hey, not bad! You can keep up with the fastest dude on two feet! But can you do this?" I taunted as I flipped backwards and landed on top of the cab.
Then I realized what felt off about the truck. I had caught a glimpse of what was inside the cab… or rather, what wasn't inside. The gun truck didn't have any driver!
This either meant that it was a self-driving truck like all those Teslas…
…or it was a Phantom Ruby illusion.
The truck didn't stop from the moment I hopped on top of it, so I walked to the back of the truck, jumped off, and ran off in the opposite direction, so it could take forever for the truck to turn around, if it didn't disappear first. I shrugged. That chase wasn't as fun or destructive as the first one I had with the GUN truck.
But then I realized, I was heading straight for the city! My whole mission had been to escape from the city and be seen by as few people as possible, so I could be free for as long as I could until my doppelganger was caught.
But I wasn't out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.
I heard the sound of several engines descending from around me, and I looked around to see many familiar GUN robots, including Laser Hunters, Beetles, and Valkyries.
The GUN truck was real after all.
And it was just a decoy.
GUN had thought everything out.
The White House – Thu December 22; 8:14 PM EDT – Third-person POV
"Mr. President, we just got word from the head of GUN Division Delta," Christina said the moment she hung up her cell phone. "Sonic has escaped from GUN custody."
The President's eyes widened slightly at this news.
"He was in the helicopter, right?"
Christina nodded.
"He escaped from a sealed helicopter unscathed," he repeated.
Again Christina nodded.
"It's true," she said.
"Which meant he feel several thousand feet and landed unscathed," the President finished. "I don't know how he did it, but this is Sonic the Hedgehog we're talking about, after all. So, has GUN taken action?"
"Yes, Mr. President. They have deployed the new robots they had been given from Area 99. The truck intercepted him as planned, and they are pursuing him as we speak."
The President closed his eyes. He absolutely hated to do this, but as much as he wanted to side with Sonic, he knew it was wrong to show bias in a situation like this. After all, the law had to be upheld.
"This is not like him at all…" he said quietly. "He's had a perfect record up until now. However, I feel that now is the time to launch a criminal investigation of Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Weren't they already interviewed by a federal psychologist during the peacetime?" Christina asked.
"Yes, but Miss Crowley didn't go over his personal record. This situation calls for such an action, just to be safe." He looked up and blinked when he remembered something. "I personally sent Agent Franklin on a mission this past week. The same man who went undercover at Chris' school may become involved in Sonic's affairs yet again. Do you have a report of his progress, Miss Cooper?"
"Yes, sir. We got a report back from the CIA that Agent Franklin has checked in fifty minutes ago. He has not found any leads in his case yet. He has, however, met with his contact, and they're actively arranging a flight to Milwaukee en route to Superior."
"Well, unless they have a private flight, they may find it very difficult for them to get there, with Christmas travel and all," the President said, folding his hands across the desk. "If what we suspect is true, then GUN may have an impostor in its ranks."
Matt's apartment – Thu December 22; 8:05 PM CDT – Chris' POV
After Grandpa and I came back home to Matt's place, Grandpa called Tails, and to my delight, he said he and Amy were more than delighted to stop by for Christmas. I was surprised that they were able to make it, but they said they were planning on coming anyway. They were starting to run out of work to do that didn't involve money or the government, so it was a great change of pace for them; plus, they could spend Christmas with us.
We all had a big reunion, and Ella and Matt were scrambling to make a big dinner for everyone. Amy got to see Lily for the first time since the move (Amy had asked us to take care of Lily while she helped with the cleanup). We were all chatting with each other and catching up on life. Tails told us that he found a Chaos Emerald in Station Square, and he held out the yellow gem to show us.
Our Christmas party had been in full swing until Grandpa entered the living room from one of the bedrooms, visible shaken. He was holding his tablet.
"Is everything all right?" Ella asked him, getting almost everyone else's attention.
"Not really…" he admitted, his voice a little lower than usual. "I just checked the news. Sonic got arrested by GUN at the capital."
The room echoed with a shocked exclamation of "WHAT?!" I was pretty shocked, not to mention in denial. I didn't know what to say.
"Wh-What did they think he did?" Tails asked quietly.
"They're accusing him of stealing guns and cash, and frankly I don't think that's true," Grandpa said.
"Yeah, he would never do that!" Amy exclaimed.
"Doesn't he have a perfect record here or something?" Matt asked as he raced over and turned the TV on to the news. He didn't normally watch the news because he didn't want the extra stress in his life, and I couldn't blame him.
"He didn't do anything wrong–" Cream's voice died in her throat when, sure enough, she saw Sonic on the national news. The video footage clearly showed the blue hedgehog breaking into an armored car with a spin-dash and walking back out with an armful of semi-automatic rifles. Another clip showed him using what I thought was the power of a Chaos Emerald to blast into a safe at the bank and emerge with a huge amount of cash.
"S-Sonic…" Cream whimpered, before becoming indignant. "Mr. Sonic would never take something that doesn't belong to him! That's stealing!"
I was distraught that my best friend, my big brother, was convicted as a criminal, but Tails looked borderline devastated.
"It's… I-It's really him…" he said quietly. He probably already saw something like this before, but to have it happen to him all over again…
"But it can't be…" I added. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't make myself believe my own words. What I saw was what I saw. It was Sonic no matter how much I tried to believe it wasn't him.
"Sonic reportedly escaped from custody by breaking out of a GUN helicopter which was en route to Superior Containment Facility, where he would spend the next 30 years," the reporter went on. "He is currently on the run, sparking a nationwide manhunt. Authorities have advised that if you see Sonic, you are to contact your local police department immediately. Any information you report concerning Sonic will be beneficial to their cause."
Tails' expression changed from crestfallen to determined in an instant.
"I'm gonna go out there and make things right!" he declared before marching toward the door, but Grandpa reached out to try and stop him.
"Tails, no, you can't–"
"'Cuz that's what brothers are for!" Tails pressed. "Sonic's my brother, and I'm gonna make sure the truth gets told."
"I wanna come too!" I volunteered, feeling emboldened by Tails' words.
"No, no, this isn't–" Grandpa let out a sigh. "All right, fine, come with me," he said as he hurried toward the door, and Tails and I followed him.
"Hey, uh, guys, I don't think that's a good idea," Matt warned, and we stopped to look at him. "'Cuz I just realized, if Sonic's wanted, then that'll probably make all of us people of interest."
"Oh, no, I didn't think of that," Grandpa said. "That's a good point."
"Trust me, Matt," I heard Amy say. "They know what they're doing."
As we took off down the hall, I found myself wishing I had her confidence. It was very likely that she probably had a hard time believing herself as well.
"So are we taking the car, or…?" Grandpa started asking.
"X-Tornado," Tails replied from in front of us. "It's gonna be a lot faster, especially with all the traffic at this time of year."
"Okay, I hope it's not too far off," Grandpa said.
"No, no, it's just a couple blocks down," Tails replied as he spun his tails to fly faster. "We'll take the car to get to it, though."
"I can't keep up!" I panted. I was starting to fall behind everyone on the way to the elevator.
"Oh, Tails, let's slow down a bit," Grandpa called, but his words were in vain because we were just arriving at the elevator.
"Sorry!" Tails replied, blushing a little.
"Are you sure we should come with you? Because you can get there a lot faster without us," Grandpa asked as he pushed the elevator button, since he was able to reach for it better than Tails could.
"Yeah, I know," Tails nodded. "But Chris said he wanted to come too. And now that I think about it, we're probably a lot better off with more witnesses."
To be honest, I didn't really know what we were doing, but if I had to guess, we were scouting around for Sonic to catch him in the act first-hand. That made the most sense. Knowing Sonic, it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but Tails was right. We had to find out the truth and clear Sonic's name no matter what happened.
Minneapolis – Thu December 22; 8:23 PM CDT – Sonic's POV
An hour later, the robots were still relentlessly pursuing me through the city. They had practically herded me back in so I could get lost in the concrete jungle.
One thing was certain: GUN was dead set on getting me arrested. In fact, I had my doubts that they even fact checked the situation. They were taking things at face value: they saw a blue hedgehog committing crimes, they assumed it was me, and, well… here I was.
While I was running, I kept looking around for Shadow, because he was the only explanation for me being framed right now. But it was hard to navigate the streets because they were so icy, plus I had to keep moving because the robots were on my tail.
I carefully skidded to a stop, then bounced myself around off the high-rises and into the leading three robots. In response, they started blasting at me; and thanks to their reckless aim, not only did they miss me by several feet, but they hit some of the cars that were parked along the street.
"You know I can see the bullets, right?" I taunted as I dodged them with the greatest of ease. "You know I can count 'em too, right?"
Using a car as leverage, I shot myself upward and landed on the back of one of the GUN Beetles, hoping the other robots would keep shooting and destroy the robot I was standing on. However, to my dismay, they held their fire instead. Their programming seemed to be more advanced than Eggman's robots.
I didn't want to destroy GUN's robots, but I was left with no choice. And since I didn't have a ring with me, I had to make do the old-fashioned way, which was fine by me.
I pushed myself off the robot into the air, and the motion forced the robot downward, and it shattered on impact with the ground. I then immediately home-attacked robot after robot, my rapidly spinning body slicing cleanly through their circuitry. I ruled out running laps around the robots to confuse them because I took it they were too smart for that.
As I narrowly avoided lasers that whizzed right past my quills, I homed in on the last of the robots. The Valkyries took a little more effort than usual to take out, but I was able to get the job done, and I watched their burning masses crashing into the street.
As I took a few deep breaths after the fight, I felt a tiny hint of suspicion. These GUN robots came out of nowhere, and it wasn't like an ambush. It was more like I hadn't seen GUN use technology like this ever since I came here, and now that the next part of Eggman's redux plan was starting, now they showed up.
But something felt off about that. The GUN truck was real, and so were these robots. Not everything was created by the Phantom Ruby, which meant Eggman was getting smarter. But I also realized that the Egg Carrier itself and the E-100 Series robots were real too. And yet Chaos was fake, but all the water it created was real, and it really killed people. Whether that was Eggman's intention or not was up for debate, but I had no idea how an illusion of Chaos could create real water. It wasn't natural for the Phantom Ruby to do that.
Unless…
I heard something landing on the ground behind me, and I turned around to see a blue hedgehog landing in a heroic pose on the road. The eerie thing about him was that his quills, sneakers, gloves, and eyes were just like mine.
He was me.
I was shocked. This whole time I had been expecting Shadow, not another me. He wasn't Shadow, he wasn't Metal Sonic…
"You're me…" I whispered in disbelief. The other Sonic smirked.
"You were expecting someone else?" he said in a voice that sounded exactly like mine, which also took me off guard. "That you've been able to outrun the law of this world for so long… I expected nothing less from you. Heh, you still don't know what you did, do you?"
I gritted my teeth. "C'mon now, we both know it was you," I said.
"Ah, but everyone else thinks it was you," Faker shot back. "That was kinda silly of you to say that."
This guy is seriously getting on my nerves…
"Well, you're not me and you know it," I retorted. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you're not even as fast as me."
"Is that a challenge?" Faker said in a one-to-one replica of my confidence. "You know I never back down from a challenge!"
"That my line, Faker!" I called back.
I noticed Faker twitching slightly, but he bolted toward me with a vengeance. I almost wasn't able to sidestep out of the way in time. It was a reminder of just how fast I really was.
"Well, whaddaya know, you are too slow!" I taunted. "Only the real Sonic can run at supersonic speeds."
Faker smirked again. "Want me to prove you wrong?"
"Sounds like a challenge to me," I said as I took off running down the street. I glanced over to see that Faker was not only running after me, but he was keeping pace with me as well.
"Oh hey, you're actually keepin' up with me!" I noted. "Wonder if you're gonna be the new Metal Sonic, 'cuz this is actually an improvement."
Faker scoffed. "Oh, I'm way more sophisticated than that old defective hunk of junk, and by extension, you!"
Faker punctuated that last word by curling into a tight ball and hurling himself straight at me. I was on a narrow part of the street, so it was a bit tricky for me to dodge him. Now that he was in front of me, I did the same thing back to him, but he too dodged, causing me to miss. We clashed in the air a few times like that, with none of us able to score a decent hit on the other.
"Man, talk about shadow boxing!" I quipped.
"You're probably more right than you know," Faker replied quietly.
As we unsuccessfully bounced off each other and landed in the street for what must have been the twentieth time, I heard the sound of a low-flying engine. I looked up to see the X-Tornado flying above us, and it was coming in for a landing nearby.
"Aaand that's my cue to leave," Faker said. "But first…"
The X-Tornado was gradually transforming into its X-Cyclone as it descended toward the icy road below it, but my attention was drawn to Faker, and the black band on his left glove. He pressed a small button on it, and in a cloud of static, he phased into who I immediately recognized as Shadow the Hedgehog. It didn't surprise me, but there was a lot that wasn't adding up.
"There, much better," he said as he glanced at his new body. "I'll admit, I was sick of impersonating you. I refuse to be anyone I'm not."
His ears twitched as he started to hear the sound of incoming sirens, and I found myself wishing they weren't for me.
"Okay, before they lock me away, I got a few questions," I said, feeling a bit tense. "You ever hear of someone called Black Doom?"
"I don't have time to waste on trivial matters," Shadow told me. "Though, since you're dying to know what you did, the whole country's after you for breaking into armored cars and stealing guns and money. Anyway, time's up, for both of us."
With those words, he activated his band, turning back into me. Then he pulled the green Chaos Emerald out of nowhere.
Yup, I thought. Definitely a Phantom Ruby illusion.
"Chaos Control!"
In a quick flash of bright light, Shadow vanished the moment several police cars, police vans, and a fresh group of GUN robots entered the scene. I was sure none of them saw Shadow's clean escape.
"This is the Minneapolis Police Department!" I heard over a bullhorn. "Stand down and put your hands up!"
"Y'know I can easily get outta this, you know that?" I shrugged, hands behind my head in a relaxed pose.
"Don't get smart with us," the officer warned.
It was a tight situation. I could easily keep the chase going and keep the country guessing where I would be next, but I wouldn't get any closer to clearing my name.
"Do what he says, Sonic! Turn yourself in!" I hear Tails calling to me from behind me. His voice sounded pained, but I knew it was the right thing to do. If I was behind bars, then that would clear me, because Shadow would still be out there.
"One…"
Even as the police started counting down as a warning, Tails had given me the confidence I needed. I grinned at Tails, Chuck, and Chris up in the X-Tornado. Tails and Chuck looked worried, but Chris looked downright scared for me.
"Two…"
I didn't want anyone to worry, because after I told everyone the gist of this part of the redux over a month ago, it implied that I would make it out okay.
"Three…"
I took a deep breath, let it out, and sat down cross-legged on the cold, icy street, glad that there was little traffic on this stretch of road. I looked up as six officers approached me.
"I'm all yours," I calmly told them.
"As much as I wanna believe you're innocent, the footage doesn't lie," he said as he snapped the handcuffs on me. "You've given us the runaround for long enough, Sonic. And now GUN is gonna take the utmost precautions to make sure you don't escape a second time while they get you to Superior."
"You guys keep talking about this 'Superior,'" I told them. "Mind giving me a clue what that is?"
"It's a prison island out in Lake Superior, and a max-security one at that," the officer told me as he pulled me to my feet.
"Oh…" I realized. It all made sense now. I wasn't going to just any old jail. I was going to Earth's version of Prison Island!
"Preparations have already been made for your arrival," the officer stated. "Let's go, Sonic."
I threw another glance up at my friends in the X-Tornado.
"You guys sit tight!" I said as optimistic as I could. "I'll be out before you know it!"
"Don't be so sure," the officer told me. "Superior is the number one most secure prison in the nation. It's been in operation for nearly forty years, and there has not been a single solitary breakout there."
As I was escorted to the police car, I grinned. That might have been true, but he didn't say anything about other people breaking me out…
The whole time, my brain was wracked over how a Phantom Ruby illusion could use Chaos Control like that. Unless the Emerald he was holding was also an illusion, it was physically impossible, because illusions didn't have true hearts and minds the way people like me did. Not to mention the illusions had a much greater sense of tangibility than they ever did before.
There was so much more at play than I first thought.
The Egg Carrier – Thu December 22; 9:12 PM CST – Third-person POV
Hands behind his back, Eggman was impatiently pacing back and forth in the Egg Carrier's briefing room. He had to adhere to his tight schedule in order to pull off the redux without a hitch, and there had been an unexpected delay in his plans.
"Shadow should have been back half an hour ago," Eggman said as he glanced at his watch.
"Well, perhaps there is a reasonable explanation for his absence," Orbot helpfully suggested.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Eggman mumbled.
"Oh, um… Maybe he's picking up dinner or something!" Cubot guessed.
"You nincompoop," Eggman said quietly. "You know very well the Ultimate Lifeform doesn't need food to survive."
"Oh, but at least I'm sure he wants to eat," Orbot said. "Unlike us robots, he has a fully functional digestive system. If only we were programmed with such complex ingenuity."
"And maybe he'll get some Swiss Rolls for dessert!" Cubot said.
"That was a dig, and I'll just pretend you didn't say that," Eggman said. "But all in all, I'm feeling pleased with myself concerning the parallels that lie between the Superior Containment Facility and Prison Island. This makes the redux much smoother, which means I don't need to use even more Phantom energy to create my own Prison Island. So now that the hedgehog has finally been dealt with–"
There was a sudden flash of light from the entrance of the room, accompanied with: "Sorry I'm late, Doctor."
Eggman took his hand off his racing heart as he looked at Shadow, who had the Chaos Emerald in his hand.
"Oh, it's you, Shadow," Eggman said. "What kept you this whole time?"
"I had to secretly follow the police to make sure Sonic got to the prison island without any further incidents," Shadow admitted as he set the Chaos Emerald down on the table.
"So he was captured," Eggman guessed.
Shadow nodded. "Yes. In fact, he willingly surrendered."
"Hmph. That doesn't surprise me," Eggman said as he slowly paced the room once again. "He probably assumed that if he took himself out of the picture on purpose, that would increase the chances of you getting captured."
"As it was in the past," Shadow said. "Then in that case, I won't be needing this anymore."
He removed the black band from his left arm, the one he had used to transform himself into an illusion of Sonic, and set it on the table, where it disappeared in a cloud of red pixels, since it was a Phantom Ruby illusion, just like the rest of Shadow.
"Wise choice," Eggman said, pleased that his illusion of Shadow was exceeding his expectations.
"Hey doc! Got a message for ya!" came Bokkun's shrill voice as he flew into the room with one of his dreaded yellow TVs.
"Hey, just an FYI, we use flat-screens these days," Cubot stated.
"Better than that, some people don't need TVs when they have cell phones or tablets," Orbot added.
"Whatever. This thing better not explode," Eggman said.
"Oh, don't worry doc, it won't explode," Bokkun promised. "Not now, at least. Anyway, here ya go."
He held the small screen upright for Eggman to see it clearly before pressing a small button on the bottom to turn it on and play the message. Eggman was surprised to see Rouge on the screen.
"Hey there handsome, it's your neighborhood friendly jewel thief here," she said in a flirtactious way that me Eggman to cringe a bit. "I've been looking for you for the past… oh, two hours and chance, and, well… I have something that I'm positive will pique your interest. So I'm wondering if we could meet somewhere for a little… business transaction."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"I would not advise listening to her," Orbot said. "Rouge works with Sonic too."
"Yeah, and she wants all the world's gems too, so you better watch your back," added Cubot.
"I am far too interested in what she has to say to listen to the wise advice of two annoying tin cans," Eggman scoffed. "Bring her in, Bokkun."
But the messenger robot has a mischievous grin on his face.
"Psyche!"
The TV suddenly exploded, harmlessly coating Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot in a thick layer of ash, and Bokkun was all the while giggling at his prank. Only Shadow was spared, because he had been standing behind Bokkun.
"Oh, Bokkun, you're such a naughty boy," came Rouge's voice as she stepped into the room. "I never once thought I'd see the day the doctor would be on the receiving end of those things."
"Oh… Rouge, you're here already," Eggman realized as he patted the worst of the ash off his face with a cloth from his suit pocket. "I wasn't expecting to see you this soon."
"I figured you'd be hanging around here," she said, but before Eggman could speak, she continued. "Oh, about the security, that was the easy part. I come and go as I please, same as always. Now… about that transaction. Can we talk in private?"
"Y-Yes, permission granted," Eggman said. He was willing to do anything to get out of this awkward situation. "Everyone out!"
As Shadow, Orbot, and Cubot left the room, Eggman noted that not once did Rouge notice Shadow in the room. It would probably have gotten awkward if she did, since they were both on Team Dark.
"Now, get to the point," Eggman said as he sat down in his chair.
"You know how much I hate beating around the bush," Rouge nodded. "So anyway, I take it you're quite familiar with the whole 'Mobius Redux' thing the government's been talking about. In fact, I know a certain someone who just so happens to be masterminding the whole thing."
"And you would be right," Eggman said with glee, folding his hands on the table in front of him. "In fact, since you weren't going after the Master Emerald like you usually do, and I kinda need it for the next part of my plan, I sent my E-100 Series robots to collect it for me."
"Oh, well that's a shame," Rouge said in mock lament. "Such a pretty gem would have looked absolutely stunning in my collection."
Right from the horse's mouth, she thought. She was amazed that Eggman revealed part of his plan right in front of her. This also confirmed that he was controlling the redux. However, she decided to let Eggman get the Master Emerald as he planned, and let him think the redux was going according to plan. She also knew about the Phantom Ruby, but decided not to say anything on that front.
"Oh, speaking of gems, I just so happened to find this beauty on my way to Minneapolis," Rouge said as she pulled the blue Chaos Emerald out of Hammerspace and showed it to Eggman.
"Where did you find that?" Eggman asked once he snapped out of his momentary trance.
"On my way to Minneapolis, did you not hear that part?" Rouge repeated. "Oh, don't worry, I've been there myself. It's a hard habit to keep your ears open when you're busy ogling over gems. I was tailing Sonic and just so happened to find it on the ground. Those glaring sparkles are hard for these eyes to miss."
"And why were you following Sonic?" Eggman pressed.
"He got busted by GUN for something I know he didn't do, and I just had to find out why," Rouge explained.
"Rouge, you lived through this, you know why," Eggman said, before extending his hand toward Rouge. "Can I have the Emerald now?"
"Uh-uh, not quite," Rouge said, swiping the Emerald away. That was when she noticed its bright glow, and she looked over to see the green Emerald on the table. Without wasting a second, she walked over and picked it up.
"I know you want them sooo badly, but all you need to do is agree to my terms. In fact, I can even tell you where you can find the other Emeralds."
"You're bluffing," Eggman said.
"I think not~" she said in a teasing tone. "Do you want them or not? I mean, I could always hold onto these babies a little longer…"
"I just got that green Emerald…" mumbled Eggman. "Fine, what are your terms?"
Rouge looked Eggman in the eye. "Promise me you won't deviate from the redux," she said.
"No promises," Eggman said with a grin. "Remember who you're talking to right now."
"Right back at you, Eggy," Rouge said with a wink. "I guess these are mine to keep."
"Fine, I'll keep following the redux, just give me the Emeralds," Eggman said.
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Rouge said as she set the Emeralds down. "I bet you don't have what it takes to make the Eclipse Cannon happen again."
"The Space Colony ARK is floating above the Earth at this very moment," Eggman explained. "You should know the Eclipse Cannon is an integral part of the colony."
"You're bluffing," Rouge said, crossing my arms.
"I think not," Eggman replied. "The deal is done, so now you can tell me where the other Chaos Emeralds are."
"Hm… Well, to start with, I know there's one at the Superior Containment Facility, where Sonic is being taken to."
"Is that so…?" Eggman said with a grin that Rouge wasn't sure she liked. "Then I hope you won't mind breaking into Prison Island with Shadow once again to retrieve it."
Strange, I think he meant to say Sup– Hold it.
She had a double take, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Did… Did you say Shadow?"
Eggman nodded, and Rouge looked over to see Shadow stepping back into the room. He was wearing a black band on his left arm which he used to transform into Sonic for a few seconds, then back into Shadow as he made the band disappear into a cloud of pixels.
It all made sense now.
Shadow literally became Sonic to frame him.
Not once did Shadow ever show up on Earth since she got there, but now that this part of Eggman's redux plan was happening, he chose this time to appear. And not only that, he didn't even feel real. Rouge felt like her mind was being messed with. This was evidence that the Phantom Ruby was at play once again.
She was reliving a nightmare.
"This is not right… This is not right at all…"
A/N: And that concludes "Shadow Knows"! I'm amazed at how I finished this chapter in barely four weeks! I'm feeling pleased with myself, because I've also been hard at work with my backlog, and I am so full of ideas for this season :D
Also, I realized too late that I forgot to include Lily in the last chapter! I'm so glad I was able to find a spot for her in this chapter.
My backlog was a bit cluttered, because I didn't account for having everyone know it was Eggman all along this early, and according to my backlog, they still thought the redux was naturally happening. I'm so glad I changed the story to make more sense.
Even though I couldn't make the Mr. Stewart story work, it doesn't mean it's not canon, because I implied it happening this chapter.
And this time around, I wanted to offer an explanation as to how everyone really thinks it's Sonic and not having to explain how the humans are colorblind.
I had fun writing with Rouge in this chapter, especially her outburst at the beginning.
Also, if you have a keen eye, then you might have noticed that I included an Easter egg reference to one of my favorite Sonic fanfictions, "Blue Hedgehog Psychology" by SmallInsect. Even though it's been abandoned for a few years, it's still one of my favorite Sonic X stories, and I highly recommend it.
If you guys have any constructive criticism or ideas, feel free to share!
Next time is "Sonic's Big Break", where Sonic's friends take action and stage a prison breakout! Don't miss it!
