Sonic: Atonement
Chapter 4: Between Death And Regret
"Watch out, Silver!" Blaze shouted, shooting a fireball past him and taking out a robot that was about to sneak attack him from behind.
Blaze and Silver had located where to find Shadow through information found in the databases of other robot depots. They found the base, but if it weren't for their powers, they would've been hilariously overwhelmed by the horde of Praxis' robots that were inside waiting for them.
It was an explosive fight all the way into the center of the base. These robots, while bearing a lot of similarities to Eggman's robots in terms of design, were much more visceral, constantly shooting to kill. After awhile, Silver and Blaze just went on the defensive whenever they saw black diamonds.
"Shadow better be in here, because these machines have us working way too hard to get inside." Blaze grumbled.
"We can't give up yet, Blaze. We're close. I can feel it." Silver said.
The two of them finally reached the center console. Inside, they found a control room with a large computer screen and a long set of different keyboards. Blaze and Silver walked up to it curiously, and Blaze began pressing a few buttons.
"I'm not sure how the technology here works. This is different than what we know, even before we went back to the past." She said, doing her best to figure out what she was doing.
"This Praxis guy doesn't mess around, does he? All these killer robots...and what's with the black diamonds on everything?" Silver wondered aloud.
"It must be his symbol." Blaze commented.
She tapped a button that caused a machine to begin whirring in the room. Both Blaze and Silver flinched in surprise, turning around and getting ready to fight. They watched as a large capsule began to rise out of the floor, eventually revealing a sleeping Shadow the hedgehog.
"There he is! Praxis has him captured!" Silver exclaimed, running up to the capsule.
"Looks like this whole facility was built to keep him from getting out." Blaze said, running up next to him.
"Then let's wake him up." Silver said.
He reached out with his telekinesis and used it to break the glass apart. Alarms began to blare as he flew up and grabbed onto Shadow, pulling him out and lowering him to the ground.
"Come on, Shadow. Please wake up." Blaze said, placing her hands on him as Silver tried to wake him.
"Emergency alert. Emergency alert. Subject has breached containment. Deploying Omega unit." An automated voice spoke over the P.A. System.
"Now would be a good time to wake up!" Silver shook him urgently.
A hatch door opened in the side of the room, and out came another robot different from the others. Silver and Blaze had seen this one before: the Eggman robot known as Omega. It entered the room and scanned it with its red eyes before turning its attention to Silver and Blaze.
"Intruders located. Activating termination protocols. Surrender or be destroyed." Omega warned, priming its guns for attack.
"Here we go again." Blaze sighed and stood up, raising her hands up and letting flames emit from them again.
However, suddenly Shadow's eyes shot open. He grabbed onto Blaze and carried her out of the way of Omega's shots. Silver flinched in surprise and ducked behind the nearest control module. Shadow set Blaze down and skated to the side, jumping onto the wall and hitting Omega with a homing attack.
"Finally time for round two, Omega." Shadow said, crouching on the ground with his eyes narrowed on his former robotic friend.
"Surrender or be destroyed." Omega repeated.
"Not this time." Shadow said before attacking again.
Shadow jumped out of the way of Omega's shots, jumping behind him and going for a homing attack. Omega turned around and swatted Shadow back, making him slide. Shadow growled and ran around Omega, going for another homing attack that knocked Omega's arm off.
Omega swung at Shadow with its other arm. Shadow ducked under it and crouched into a spin dash, knocking Omega's legs out and bouncing back quickly. It shot at Shadow as it fell awkwardly to the ground. Shadow jumped into the air, running alongside the wall to avoid the shots.
Finally, Shadow jumped off the wall once again and landed on top of Omega with another homing attack. He then bounced into the air and did another spin dash. Once he landed on Omega mid-spin dash, the force of his quills tore apart the chest plate of Omega's metal chassis.
Once he had ripped Omega apart enough, he shut down. Shadow stopped the spin dash, hopping off of the robot and landing in a crouched position next to it. He took a moment to look down at Omega, closing his eyes and lowering his head out of respect.
"So long...old friend."
"Shadow! Thank goodness you're awake! We gotta get you out of here. We have no idea what's going on!" Silver said to him. Shadow raised his head and looked at Silver in surprise.
"Silver...and Blaze. As I live and breathe. You two don't look any different than the last time I saw you." He said.
"Neither do you. Can you fill us in on what's happened?" Blaze asked.
"Yes," Shadow nodded. "Follow me."
Shadow, Silver, and Blaze fought their way out of Praxis' hidden base, escaping back into the city. Once they were gone, they had to sneak around in order to avoid getting caught by the guard robots. Silver and Blaze followed Shadow until finally they arrived at an abandoned basement underneath a tall skyscraper.
"Where are you taking us, Shadow?" Blaze asked.
"The fox's old hideout. He crafted it himself after Praxis destroyed his workshop in an ambush." Shadow explained.
"Tails? He's still alive too?!" Silver exclaimed in surprise. Shadow looked back at him with a grim expression.
"Not exactly."
Shadow kicked open the door and brought Silver and Blaze into the Tails' hidden laboratory. The place appeared abandoned, but there was also no mess in the room – nothing to indicate that anyone had been here recently.
"Is this where Tails was hiding?" Blaze asked, looking around curiously.
"Something like that." Shadow answered, walking up to the computer against the wall.
He reached underneath it and flicked a switch that turned it on. The screen lit up and the monitor began to whir to life. Silver and Blaze watched as the computer turned on, and it displayed an image of an older Tails onscreen.
"Whoa...Tails?" Silver's eyes widened in surprise. He slowly approached the computer screen.
"Silver. It's good to see you again. It's been a long time. Shadow? Blaze? You're all here too! This is good! This is very good!" Tails said excitedly.
"What happened to you?" Blaze asked.
"I used advanced technology to copy my consciousness artificially into this. It was the only way to guarantee my survival after everyone else had gone." Tails explained briefly.
"Who is this Praxis person? What can you tell us about him?" Blaze asked, approaching the screen and looking up at Tails.
"I can only tell you so much. He popped up out of nowhere about 2 years after you guys left the past. He and his partner, a hedgehog called Zero, killed Sonic and Eggman in the same day...they filled up the power vacuum. Praxis took hold of all of Eggman's robots and that was that.
"His takeover was like a tidal wave; there was nothing we could do to stop it. We tried our best but Praxis and Zero were really smart. One by one, all of my friends lost their lives. I guess I lost my life too in the end." Tails thought aloud.
"I'm so sorry, Tails...we should have been here." Silver said, looking down and shaking his head in dismay.
"It's okay, Silver. Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. It's mine. After Sonic died, I had to step up, but I wasn't enough. I was the one who needed to figure out how to stop Praxis. I should have killed Zero sooner; by the time I had, it was far, far too late.
"But there is still hope now that you're here. I can help you get back to the past so we can stop all of this from ever happening." Tails revealed.
"You can? How?" Blaze asked.
"Do you have the Sol Emeralds?" Tails asked.
"I do."
"The plans for my time machine are still here in my database. I'll print them out for you. The three of you should have everything you need. You must go back and warn Sonic and the rest of us about Zero and Praxis," Tails pleaded.
"It all happened the week before Valentine's Day... Eggman had attacked Station Square again; I was holding off two giant robots in the Tornado II until Sonic showed up, but he never made it...Zero got to him before he ever made it to the city." Tails recalled sadly.
There was silence in the room for a few moments as this weighty knowledge sank in. Sonic had faced many, many life-threatening situations. To be taken out in such a sudden way only meant that they would have to be more cautious than ever this time.
"We'll do our best to fix this, Tails! I promise!" Silver said firmly, clenching his fists...