Eggman Industries
Project 1107
Codename: Prism

File: Color and Nega Energies

The Triangle of Energy

Color Energy and Nega Energy form a triad of sorts with Chaos Energy. While Chaos Energy is connected to life, creation, and destruction as a whole, Color Energy embodies the power of emotion and manipulation of the physical elements of the world, and Nega Energy manifests the abstract like ideas and thoughts that have no tangible form.

Both Color and Nega Energies are ultimately subservient to Chaos Energy, as their realms of power are both encompassed by the unbound force that is life. The Wisp species appears to be adapted or formed from these two energies in the same way that the Chao are from Chaos Energy. While the large majority of Wisps I have encountered are naturally aligned with Color Energy, when drained of energy, they convert into a form that draws on Nega Energy, as described in the files on Wisps [system error: directory not found]. The Black Wisp and Jade Wisp appear to be naturally aligned with Nega Energy, but both are exceedingly rare and in-depth study has yet to occur.

Ledge's golden eyes shifted back and forth between Eggman's research documents and his schematics of the Wispon prototypes. Well, one prototype in particular. The mechanics of the normal Wispons were practically solved by now: The Asteroid Wispon had just reached completion, and the Drill Wispon was already in production thanks to the powerful machines at his disposal in the Arsenal Pyramid. He saw no immediate need to produce the Hover Wispon, since a cursory glance at the file was all that was needed to identify it as the one currently in the hands of the Alpha.

No, his objective lied in the seventh and last prototype that was a puzzle in a league of its own from the others. Its blueprints weren't even completed – a mystery all by itself. Why would Eggman, of all people, give up on a revolutionary project such as this? The Cardinal had not yet finished reading the entire folder of research, but even from the paragraphs like those on his screen, the potential of harvesting such fundamental energies was… infinite. Eggman seemed to have dedicated his career to their study, and some of that may have been inherited from the similarly crazed Gerald Robotnik.

He was certain that they still lacked all of the pieces in the story behind the war, potentially entire layers' worth of them. Arc's encounter with the Alpha definitely spawned more questions than it did answers. The wolf clearly knew about their excursion there in advance, yet she cared not even a little for Eggman's base that they found. If she knew about the mysterious gem that this Flora woman pilfered from it, she showed no regard for it either. Her one and only mission was the Wispons, for reasons that were still unknown to the Resistance.

An incoming transmission was alerted to him on the communications console, which he had not disabled this time, after the complaints that occurred prior.

Amy: "Ledge, we need you to join us in HQ for a meeting. You'll be picked up by Silver and Arc's shuttle on their way in. Capische?"

Ledge: "I could use some respite from my current project anyway. And I have a new Wispon for you."

Amy was the only one remaining in the brick room that served as the Resistance HQ, where she was typing diligently at the computer. She had ordered Tails and Knuckles straight to bed once Silver and Arc had confirmed that their shuttle was safely on its return trip, despite protests from the former about improving their patch job on the Emerald radar and from the latter about being the actual authority in the room.

They quickly shut up once the Piko Piko Hammer entered the conversation.

Since she had already been awakened, she figured she could use the unexpected time in a productive manner, catching up on documenting their inventory and other administrative tasks necessary to keeping the City functional for its refugees.

Unfortunately, the pink hedgehog wasn't able to finish before she received a notification on the screen, informing her of an incoming call. Its location of origin was the town of Shamar, which made it a higher priority than almost anything else. Although Shamar had been occupied by Eggman early on due to its proximity to his stronghold in Metropolis, the citizens were not so easily dismayed, likely due to how Sonic had helped them in the past. They continued to resist in whichever ways they could: for the Resistance, this came in the form of sheltering their spy and her transport whenever she was making another pass into the belly of the beast.

That meant the sender of this transmission was either Rouge the Bat with information, or someone from the town in need of something, and they could not afford to turn that down and potentially lose such a critical asset. Opening the call revealed the white-furred agent was safe and sound, though with a look of great concern. Rouge was usually pretty suave and kept her composure, so this must be something serious.

Amy: "Rouge, it's good to see you in one piece! There's a lot of good news on our end since we last spoke, but it looks like you have something more pressing to share, so let's cut to the chase."

Rouge: "I see your intuition is as sharp as always, pinky. I picked up a transmission between Eggman and the Red Mask, and they've hatched some plan that they seem certain will destroy us all. I couldn't find any specifics on the plan itself, but I noticed a trend in Eggman's other agendas. They all seem to pivot around something that he expects to happen in three days. I'm willing to bet that he intends to put his plan into action then."

Amy: "Three days?! Are you kidding me?!"

Rouge: "A lot can happen in three days, but we need to plot our next steps very carefully. What will you have me do?"

Amy: "I think… you should return to HQ. We're going to need every brain we have stewing in this pot. There are already a few people we're waiting on to finish other matters right now, so it won't hurt to add one more and then figure things out with everyone in-person."

Rouge: "Copy that. This bat is coming home to roost."

A few hours later, most of the main faces were gathered in the same room. Rouge wasn't due in for a little while longer, and Boar had been permitted to skip since his work was separate from missions and so someone could keep an eye on the rest of the City. In center stage were Silver and Flora, the latter of whom did not look comfortable with the attention, and both were holding their powerful gems. While the aura of the yellow Chaos Emerald was just as awesome as the blue one, the same could not be said of the strange gem. The feeling it gave off was nothing short of unsettling.

"So, first things first," Amy announced. "While our analysis isn't exactly thorough, and there weren't many settlements to conquer to begin with, I feel comfortable saying that Eggman no longer has any operations active in the Mystic Jungle. We can consider the continent relatively free of his influence, and that's a win for us."

There was a slight round of applause as Tails stepped up to speak.

"With a second Chaos Emerald in our possession, I should be able to upgrade our radar to find the others much more efficiently. There's also this… other gem, which I hope to be able to reverse engineer so we can use it against Eggman. Of course, this means I will be stepping back from field operations for the time being."

"However, we also have a new addition to our team!" Amy continued. "Everyone, meet Flora the Porcupine."

The ranger gave a bashful wave. "Howdy, y'all. It's really not that big of a deal. I'm not much of a front-lines fighter, I just want everyone to be able to live freely, y'know? I'm dedicated to fighting Eggman however I can, but that don't mean much when all I have is this whip."

"Well, aren't you in luck, then," Ledge interceded. Without waiting for permission, he walked up to the front where Flora was, carrying a large purple device. It was practically a sphere, made out of two indigo domes connected with black bands. Some sort of lens was attached to the front half, and a handle was cut into the back half to allow it to be held. Remarkably, a yellow ring circled at an angle to the bands without being physically attached to the device.

"This is the Asteroid Wispon. If you have any skill in shooting, you should find it an ingenious weapon against Eggman's robots. It can auto-target and destroy groups of individual robots simultaneously. And with this power-up," he explained, pulling out a matching indigo capsule, "you can protect yourself with a shield that absorbs any matter it contacts, increasing its size and strength while also providing you with limited levitation ability."

"Oh, that's… thanks?" Flora responded, unsure of what to say about it or what to think of the peculiar Mobian that had gifted it to her.

"There is one other piece of news I must share," Amy said, refocusing the meeting. "Rouge called in. The good news is she's safe. The bad news is Eggman has a plan that, when completed, will wipe us all out. In three days."

Knuckles placed one of his massive hands up to his chin. "I don't like the sound of that. Normally, I'd just laugh at an Eggman plan, but he's already conquered most of the world, so… what's this plan of his?"

Unexpectedly, the main monitor turned a menacing red, flashing the emergency alert at them as the alarms outside began to blare. Only a moment later, the automatic door to the headquarters opened, and Boar nearly forced his way through the opening before it had even finished. Given his strength and the powerful Wispon at his disposal, he quite possibly could remove the 'nearly' if he so desired. The look of distress on his face suggested he had needed to put some effort into not doing so.

"Sirs and ma'ams! I hate to interrupt your important meeting, but we're under attack! Along with a robot army, a black hedgehog is tearing through our troops! We need reinforcements!"

"Shadow…" Sonic growled, beginning to pace around the room. "So he's still fighting for Eggman."

"It still doesn't make sense to me. Why would Shadow help the enemy?" Knuckles stressed.

"He's got to be controlled by Infinite's strange power," Silver said, reminding them of their previous conversation. "What else could it be?"

"Whatever it is, I'll figure it out," Sonic vowed.

While the bulk of the group took to the docks area to fight the robots, Sonic decided on a separate route through Sunset Heights. As the name suggested, it was farther up from shore on the sloped hills, and that also made it the City's suburbs where nicer houses and, more relevantly, larger roads were. The Star Light Zone, which was farther out still, outclassed it in both space and wealth, but if he went too far from the city center, he'd miss out on finding his target. The Heights offered a compromise between speed and action.

As the blue hedgehog ran along a ridgeline road overlooking the lower levels, the usually beautiful view instead offered him a panorama of war, with flashes from friendly Wispons and steel enemies pockmarking most of the urban expanse like fireworks. In the distance, he could see several specks that were his flying friends combatting a handful of giant Death Egg Robots. Since the previous battle ended with just two of them, this was quite concerning.

Vector: "What the heck?! A whole army of Death Egg Robots?!"

Charmy: "Oh no! There are so many of them!"

Silver: "Hurry, Sonic! We're going to need your help. We can keep them in check, but not for long."

Sonic: "I'll find Shadow and be back in no time!"

He vaulted up several flights of stairs, but quickly encountered obstacles once he reached the top. The road had been blocked with caltrops and barricades, and for good measure, several Egg Pawns bearing shields had also taken up residence. It made sense, thinking about some of Knuckles' strategy talks that he had half-listened to. Something about elevation being a good asset in battle and that being why they hadn't been able to claim the upper areas of the City without the firepower they now possessed.

Guess it's time for some clean-up! he thought with a smile. No slowing down now! Approaching the first line of defenses, he turned onto his side, as if laying down, and spun with his feet stretched out. In a quick Spin Kick, he swept away the spikes and broke the barriers without breaking a sweat.

The Egg Knights noticed his dynamic entry, but it mattered not. Another Spin Kick toppled the first one; he didn't bother checking to see if it survived. He was beginning to lose some speed from friction, which didn't really like him spinning on his side like that instead of running, so he switched up his tactic. He ran dead-on at the second one but tucked at the last second into a Somersault to slip beneath its shield and break it open like the egg it was. Calling on his inner power, he jumped and whipped up a spontaneous wind that he directed towards the third one, which had finally began shooting at him. It too was knocked over by the blast from his Air Kick.

When he hit the ground, he took off with his Boost, blowing away most of the hazards that remained. He continued inland down the boulevard to a roundabout with a ruined fountain, its once-pleasant display now a mindless geyser of water that coated the road around it with a film of water.

Knuckles: "Come on, seriously?! How did they get this many Death Egg Robots?"

Vector: "I'm not usually one to complain, but this is a lot! Way more than we can reasonably take on!"

Boar: "Never give up! We took one of these titans down last time and we can do it again! However many times it takes, we will emerge victorious!"

Sonic smiled. That's the kind of spirit I like to see. Along with the fountain, it reminded him of Chaos's attack on Station Square. It was the first time Eggman's plans plowed into a major population center, and the people put their faith in him to stop the rampaging water monster despite having no idea who he was. The Resistance needed to keep that faith in each other, and he admired the optimism that their new friends had within them.

Amy: "Listen up! Shadow's been sighted! Apparently he's travelling above the city center at high speed!"

Espio: "He's likely looking for our headquarters. Sonic, you know what to do."

The Blue Blur was already doing it. Using his Boost, he sped down the road on the other side of the roundabout, using the embankment as it curved around down a hill as a launching ramp to go flying through the air. He rolled smoothly onto the rooftops and began bounding over them in search of his darker lookalike.

It took a very short amount of time for him to get the spotlight, or rather, several of them, as several flying Egg Pawns equipped with searchlights spotted him. Although he wished to ignore them, as he could outrun any Badnik with little issue, the reinforcements that were called carried guns or were covered in giant spikes that he had to be wary of. Reluctantly, he slowed down to fight them.

The enemies' strategy was disappointingly simple: The Needle Flappers got in his face, and the Gun Flappers floated at a distance and peppered him with bullets. That is, they would have, if they had gotten that far. While Tails and Knuckles weren't with him to fight these models like the first time around, he had also grown stronger since then and was just fine without their help.

As the robots closed in on him, he met their advance by curling up and spinning in a tight circle. From it sprung a large blue whirlwind that swept up all of the spiked foes and tossed them to the ground. They were all left vulnerable to a Homing Chain that left them as piles of parts, and the Gun Flappers were easy pickings after that point.

Sonic dusted his hands off really quickly in mockery of that attack. Already, he could see more of Eggman's forces coming in for backup. How cute, thinking they could ever catch him! He clambered over to and up the tallest standing building he could find. Looking for Shadow was one thing, but the more robots he could get on his tail instead of those of civilians or the Death Egg Robot combaters, the better.

Luck was on his side, though, as he spotted a black speck moving very quickly in the distance.

Sonic: "I spotted Shadow just up ahead. How are you all holding up?"

Tails: "We've hit a stalemate, which is… better than we expected."

Arc: "I think we can get one down if we push for it!"

Sonic: "Great! Best of luck to the both of us, then!"

He hopped on a nearby power line that was clearly non-functional and grinded down it to the level rooftops to continue his pursuit. Shadow didn't notice him, and as he got closer, it did appear that he was searching for a particular building. The black hedgehog dropped to street level, and Sonic decided that this was his chance, jumping down to the ground after him.

"Alright, Shadow, what's the deal?" Sonic called, staring down the Ultimate Lifeform from a few blocks up the street.

Shadow stopped what he was doing and turned to face Sonic, but didn't act. He crossed his arms, as he tends to do, and simply waited.

Now peeved, Sonic began to run at him. "Say something, you traitor!"

That insult put the other hedgehog in motion, a hideous scowl appearing instantly on his face. Three-fourths of the distance between them was closed before, somehow without moving his lips, he finally uttered something.

"Chaos Control!"

Even having used the technique himself and knowing that time had been slowed, Sonic could barely perceive the motion that happened next. A black blur crossed his vision, and suddenly there were two Shadows that split to either side of him. He skidded to a stop and turned around to see the one on his now-left land on his feet, while the other tumbled to the ground farther away.

"Another Shadow?!"

"That's a fake," the standing Shadow responded curtly.

"How do I know you're not the fake, Faker?"

"Because if I wanted you dead, you would be." As proof, he held up his right hand to reveal a royal purple glow, so majestic to the average viewer that it could only be sourced from a Chaos Emerald. "Are we fighting this thing or not?"

Already, the other Shadow had stood, his fur reddening as an indication of his anger.

"Fine. Let's make this quick."

Sonic Boosted forward, forcing the opposing Shadow to activate his own Chaos Boost to match. At the last moment, Sonic de-activated his aura and quick-stepped to the side, already beginning to turn around as the yellow-and-red streak had to stop his own to avoid crashing into a building behind him.

This left his guard down for the allied Shadow to deliver a strong roundhouse kick directly to his double's abdomen, winding him and knocking him to the ground again between the other two hedgehogs. Sonic was on him in a heartbeat and began running circles around him. Not for show… well, not just for show, as he whipped up another Sonic Wind to pull his opponent into the air.

Without missing a beat, Shadow #2 teleported into the eye of the storm, just above #1's hurled body. He stomped the other right back down and then drew himself in tight. The blue whirlwind imploded onto him as he glowed bright red, combining their powers, before he released it in a shining explosion so strong it released shockwaves that hit the surrounding buildings. The force caused varying amounts of crumbling from the buildings that had already lost their integrity. Small bolts of plasma radiated out from the growing sphere, which started to eat a crater into the pavement and send bits of it flying everywhere.

When the Atomic Blast dissipated and the area was safe for viewing again, only one black hedgehog remained. Sonic believed Shadow's words then, because no real Ultimate Lifeform would be disintegrated by an attack even that strong. I mean, the guy survived re-entry, and that was after draining his energy with a Super transformation. This was nothing to him.

Cautiously, Sonic approached the definitely real Shadow as he dropped to the ground and stood up. "A fake… but how?"

"Take me to your little 'Resistance' movement. I'm only explaining this once."

The blue hedgehog gave a mischievous grin. "Alright… race ya!" he teased, immediately taking off in the direction of Headquarters. It neglected the plan of helping the others with the Death Egg Robots, but bringing Shadow to them in the middle of this situation would probably cause more problems than it would solve.

Behind him, Shadow clenched his fists, but relaxed them after only a moment. As much as that hedgehog's carefree attitude and cheerfulness during serious times like this pissed him off, he was also annoyingly good at sharing that cheer with others to prevent them from falling into despair… even with Shadow himself.

Six months under Eggman's thumb certainly didn't break his spirit, Shadow thought as he activated his skates and chased after his rival. Good. I expected nothing less.

Only a few minutes passed in between Sonic and Shadow's arrival to HQ and everyone else's. They all looked beat, as they should from fighting off an invasion like that one. They weren't able to destroy any of the Death Egg Robots, but they successfully forced back the attackers for the time being. All Sonic had told them was that their assumptions about Shadow were wrong, and that he was safely retrieved and would be waiting for them once they got back.

When they entered, they kept a safe distance from him, particularly the weapon-holding ones that Shadow had never seen before. At least someone in this group finally had the sense to carry arms, even if they looked like toys.

"Who are they?" he asked, pointing at the four rookies, who shifted uncomfortably at his piercing look.

"You first, Shadow," Knuckles said fiercely, looking right at him. "You have a lot to answer for."

Once again, Shadow procured his Chaos Emerald as a display of power, causing the others to gasp. He began to walk around the room.

"The enemy that has been fighting at Eggman's side all of this time… is a mere copy of Shadow the Hedgehog, courtesy of Infinite."

"What?!" exclaimed several of them.

"Infinite can create virtual reality projections. They have mass and form, but no mind of their own."

"Virtual reality?" Sonic inquired. "So all of those familiar faces that are leading Eggman's army…"

"Replicas. The problem is, they may not be real, but their powers are as formidable as the originals."

They were interrupted by the automatic door once again, and their last ally flew in and froze when she saw the new Mobian among them.

"SHADOW!" Rouge exclaimed, picking up her feet and flying straight to him. She embraced him in a hug that he tried his best to squirm out of, to no avail.

"Rouge…" he murmured, sounding annoyed.

The bat released him from her body but kept him at arm's length. "I was so worried! We all thought you were…"

He pushed her back so she would stop touching him. "Hmph. You worry too much. I'm perfectly fine."

"But where have you been? You couldn't really have defected to Eggman's side… right?"

"You missed the exposition," Espio commented. "He just explained that Infinite made a fake Shadow."

Rouge looked somewhat shocked. "Infin– the Red Mask. Of course. No wonder he called it the Phantom Ruby. Why didn't I put this together before?"

"Phantom Ruby?" Silver asked calmly.

"Yes. Infinite boasted that he was able to activate it. That must be what the jewel on his chest is, and I bet Eggman sought him out just because of that. The Doctor said that anyone could have activated the prototypes."

"Prototypes?!" Vector exclaimed very loudly. "You mean there's more of them?!"

"Calm down, Big Green! They were all destroyed. They mentioned something about the Mystic Jungle, which is presumably what that attack was from a few days ago."

"It all makes sense now…" Flora mumbled. She stepped towards the center of the room and produced her own unsightly jewel to place on the table, causing everyone else to turn their attention her way. "This must be one of those prototypes. Infinite failed to destroy it, and it's in our hands now."

"Excellent!" Charmy voiced.

"Let's not put the cart in front of the horse, everyone," Tails said with a placating gesture. "I still need to analyze it to see how strong it is. There could be side effects, or something else wrong with it. It's just a prototype, after all."

"But still, there's hope," Knuckles concluded. "If it turns out well… there might be a way we can win this."

"In the meantime, I have more questions," Sonic interjected. "Shadow, if that was just a phony running around, what on earth were you doing for the last six months? Why did you just up and disappear?"

"I had no choice. No military in the world could tell me apart from the fake; I doubt GUN would have had any problem attacking me on sight, just as it did the moment I associated with the Black Arms. I had better things to do than waste their resources when they needed to be fighting Eggman, like search for Omega or the Chaos Emeralds. I needed more power if I was going to defeat Infinite."

"You could have come to us for help, you know," Amy said. "We'd believe you and would fight Infinite alongside you. We could even have spread the word about the fake."

"That would be even worse, because then everyone would have been hesitant to respond when the fake showed up in a fight, not knowing if it was friend or foe. It would have destroyed them that much more quickly. No, I did what I had to do."

"Is that also how you learned about Infinite's powers?" Arc asked.

"No. That… is a much longer story."

"We have time," Sonic responded, a little impatiently.

"Fine, I will tell you. Everything…"