Anonymous Review Replies!
No one: What a lovely review, thank you! Yeah, how will Shadow get out of this one indeed :D I'm having a lot of fun with incorporating the nonsensical SA2 level designs, yeah - not quite as game-accurate as I was in the 'Burning Arrow, Wildfire Heart' fic, but Shadow probably also wouldn't put up with half of this nonsense XD Hope you continue to enjoy the fic!
CursesRevenge: Deep breaths, deep breaths...take some for Shadow, who's about to end up in space :P
DEV: YES! Mega Review, wie immer! :D Ich liebe die Interaktionen, wo Sonic und Tails irgendwas an absurder Sonic-lore droppen, glaube ich auch am meisten - da zahlt sich das über 20-jährige fangirlen in der Szene wenigstens mal aus, hahah XD Und yeeeah, Shadow hat definitiv in seiner Zukunft *einiges* an Standpauken zu erwarten, da hat sich vermutlich schon ne Schlange gebildet. ;P Und freut mich natürlich auch immer mega, wenn Robotnik als wirklich scary kompetenter Bösewicht rüberkommt, ich genieße ihn am meisten wenn er zwischen "genuin gefährlich" und "highly entertaining" irgendwo zweigleisig fährt, er ist ein wirklicher cooler Antagonist, finde ich :D Und jooo, Shadow in der Kapsel musste natürlich sein, die Szene ist zu ikonisch um sie wegzulassen, aber Sonic haben wir da drin ja schon gesehen ;P Mal schauen, wie Shadow aus dem Ding wieder rauskommt...auf jeden Fall wie immer ein Riesendankeschön für den fantastischen Kommentar, ich hoffe, das neue Kapitel gefällt auch! :D
LTR: Thank you! And I'm glad it paid off! Writing fast-paced, breakneck action, plus having such a huge cast of characters each doing their own thing is *super * hard to choreogaph, hahah. I really hope you like the new chapter, too! :D
Anon Omega: Well, as Robotnik explained before shooting Shadow out into space, this capsule is re-inforced against Chaos Energy, so only a real Chaos Emerald is strong enough to Chaos Control out of it. He mentions that this is specifically a test to see whether the Chaos Emerald Shadow has is real or fake. The capsule is different from the capsule in canon because Robotnik in this version has tinkered with it.
Kachow: The story you mentioned wouldn't happen to be 'He Is My Master', would it? Because that one's one of mine as well ;P
Katz4: Katz! OMG, long time no see and Thank You for all those many reviews! :D And of course I can reply to them, right here :P Did you get back into Sonic because of Sonic Frontiers or Sonic Prime? Because that game is so much fun! :D I'm glad you enjoyed Burning Arrow, Wildfire Heart, I was also never quite a fan of Sonic transforming with all the 'dark' rings or how Darkspine Sonic looked as a result - I much preferred this version, where it's all about friends and emotions! :D Glad you enjoyed it as well, I had a lot of fun also re-reading parts of the fics with your reviews to go along. :) And Catch Them If You Can! I had SO much fun writing that one and I loved the resonance the entire Inside-of-Pokéballs idea got :D Also, super happy the friendship with Ash got to shine and Knuckles could be his BAMF-self - he *really* gets done dirty by canon sometimes :P And yeah, SO happy you're enjoying this fic now, too, I'm actually really proud of this one with all the world building and character wrangling :D 'beloved gremlin OVA Sonic' is a FANTASTIC way to characterize that little dude and I had to admit I still giggle about the stupidity about 'Oldman the Owl', it does fit this world perfectly (in that Shadow is once again questioning everyone's sanity, hahah). As for the "Long time no see" thing, eh...I think it's just a phrase they use *really* often in Sonic games? In my head canon, Sonic probably said it disproportionately often to Knuckles (because he likely would go longer stretches of time without seeing him) and once he noticed the echidna got *annoyed* by it, well...XD Poor Knuckles, at any rate. "Colin" and "Hope" are both names from the Archie continuity ("Hope" being a girl unrelated to Maria, but very much looking like her, Colin indeed being a member of the Robotnik family but not the father of Maria) but I don't think we've ever gotten any info about Maria's mother and father at all, so I hope I've written good parents for her with these legacy names :). Hope you get here to read this reply and continue to enjoy the fic!
Recap Time!
Well, last time we saw our heroes, they had just hitched a ride in a space shuttle toward the ARK, just about in time to stop the evil Doctor Robotnik from firing the Eclipse cannon on Liechtenstein! Granted, they lost Knuckles on the way who wanted to go hunt down Master Emerald Shards in space, but that didn't stop Shadow, Tails and Sonic from landing on the ARK and then proceeding toward the bridge where Robotnik waited. Only Shadow then actually managed to trick Tails and Sonic, leaving them stranded in the engine rooms while he proceeded to comfront Robotnik alone!
...which got him shot out into space, in a capsule rigged to explode. Which is where we are now...
xxx
Chapter 30: Mad Space? No This Is Sparta!
The escape capsule with Shadow inside jolted, starting to slide across the floor smoothly and inexorably towards its position for launch, locking with a neat, final click into the groves where the escape hatch was situated underneath. For one, brief moment, Shadow wondered whether this was how victims of the gallows would have felt centuries ago, the floor about to open up beneath them to let them plummet into death.
Then the capsule launched.
Shadow lost his footing from the sudden, brutal movement, fell hard against the wall, the ceiling and then again the ground of his prison as the pod rocketed through the hatch opening up beneath, Robotnik's distorted grin through the round glass the last thing he saw before he was already ejected into the dark of space.
Where he was going to die.
As strange as it was, the moment the capsule was ejected from the station, it was almost a feeling of calm that overcame him. The artificial gravity plates in the floor of the escape pod activated and he was able to stand, gazing out at the impossible vastness of the universe suddenly around him again, a view he had seen and marvelled at as a child so often - the distant stars winking at him like a last goodbye now.
Above, if he craned his head, he could see the ARK, his old childhood home already receding as the pod powered through space, and for a moment it felt like a dream, like he was weightless and drifting, watching himself tumble away from it, like an inevitable fall from a mechanical sky. Below, the Earth was shining, large and blue and silent, clouds drifting peacefully in her stratosphere, growing closer as he neared it, like it was welcoming him to his new home.
A home he would never reach, because any second now, the capsule was going to explode, scattering every last atom of him as powder and ashes across the solar system, his last moment visible only as a short flash of light from down below, if at all.
Shadow thought it could barely have been a second or two since he had been ejected; he wondered what Robotnik would consider a safe distance to have his capsule explode; how long it might take Maria and the professor to realize he had died.
Something in the capsule began to beep. Maybe that was the explosion mechanism.
Shadow wasn't sure whether he should be surprised that he wasn't more terrified, more afraid of death. The last time he had been in a pod hurtling to Earth, he had been almost drowning in fear, after all; bleeding out from the bullet hole in his chest, curled up next to his sister desperately trying to keep him alive. Perhaps this was just history repeating itself, Shadow thought as he listened to the beeps increasing in frequency. Perhaps he had already been supposed to die right then, and this was the universe correcting itself, finally taking a life that never should have survived the space colony ARK massacre.
If yes, then I am glad it's me and not you, Maria.
The beeping increased in frequency again; the capsule began to shake. This would be it. Perhaps…perhaps Tails and Sonic would be able to stop the Doctor alone. There was even a mild tinge of regret at now never getting to see the blue maniac's reaction after Shadow let him crash into the ceiling - or those of the others, like Knuckles or Mighty, when he would have told them about it.
Now there was a clench in Shadow's stomach and he could feel his throat closing up.
What? Shadow swallowed. No. No way could that be what finally would make him lose his composure, his dignity the one thing he still could hold onto in the face of his imminent death.
He pressed a now shaking hand against the glass, feeling his heart start to beat faster in time with the beeping from the capsule as his ribcage felt like it was constricting like a vice around his lungs.
Grief. Grief, not that he would die, but that he would not see anybody again, finally be as alone as he wanted to be in the beginning, even that blue pain-in-the-quills would be…would be…
Shadow's eyes squeezed shut as he tried to remain standing, not lose that last bit of pride he could still hold onto before being torn apart in the explosion. Being alone had been his choice. He had confronted Robotnik on his own and therefore alone he would -
"-CONTROL!"
Lightning flashed through the capsule and Shadow gasped as there was suddenly someone next to him, Sonic's body and quills shoving him violently to the side as the blue hedgehog appeared in the pod, immediately also slumping onto Shadow as he apparently couldn't quite keep on his feet on his own.
"What?!" Shadow was suddenly finding himself with an armful of hedgehog, still hurtling through space at hundreds of miles an hour and also about to explode, when his eyes snagged onto the object Sonic was still clutching in his hand, the yellow Chaos Emerald, the real Chaos Emerald if he had managed to teleport into the pod, brightly gleaming to his senses.
"Sonic, you - Chaos Controlled here?!"
"Yeah. Oh gods," Sonic said - and then also promptly threw up onto Shadow.
"AGH!" Shadow gave a noise of horrified/disgusted shock as it soaked into his fur, for a moment also wondering whether he had already died and this, being stuck in a tiny capsule with a vomiting hedgehog was somehow the hell he deserved in the afterlife, but then thankfully snapped back into the present, where the beeping had almost reached a crescendo, grabbed the Emerald in Sonic's hand (and also made himself grab Sonic) and shouted
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
Xxx
Chaos Control was a precise science. It was incredibly important you had a definite location or distance in mind and you needed to be concentrated, centered and determined when you attempted to warp your (and other people's atoms) potentially incredible distances across the universe.
Shadow, who had thought he had just started to hear the capsule explode around him before he had teleported the two of them away just to any place at all that wasn't here, hadn't been any of these things.
Consequently, when they landed in a heap somewhere on a…structure made of steel beams on what looked like some Mad Max-themed space rock, Shadow supposed he shouldn't be all that surprised.
"Urg!" Sonic gave a pained unconscious gasp as they landed in a tumble on top of each other, having materialized a couple feet in the air and then ungently dropping down onto the steel surface, Shadow barely managing to stop them from rolling off the beam on either side - they appeared to be on a sort of a tall, rectangular structure made of steel beams on one of the asteroid mining colonies. At first glance it appeared perhaps like the outermost framework of a tower, steal beams arranged in square, horizontal frames and stacked vertically like the rungs of a ladder for giants, the thing looking like a skeleton of a rectangular tower - with Shadow and Sonic having landed on one of the 'stories' in the middle, and a hundred feet below them, for some ungodly reason, was a giant square furnace pit.
The part of Shadow's mind that wasn't reeling from the near-death experience or trying to keep himself and Sonic from having an actual one by falling into the molten metal below, marvelled at the incredible luck of having ended up anywhere with a breathing atmosphere at all. Somewhere up above on the structure, he could hear voices, a man and a woman -argueing? - but right now there were more pressing concerns. Next to him, Sonic seemed to be regaining semi-consciousness, moving sluggishly as his eyes blinked open again. "What…?"
"Sonic," Shadow tried to shake his shoulder, "What happened? And where did you get that Emerald?"
"Uuuh…oh gods," Sonic managed, sitting up and holding his head. "I'll never Chaos Control again. Are we dead?"
"If this is the afterlife, it's missing dignity," Shadow grunted, pulling a grimace at what was still clinging to his fur as he managed to sit back on his knees when he thought the danger of one of them rolling down into the furnace pit was past.
He briefly glanced around, seeing more of the steel tower structures in the distance, currently abandoned mining equipment and vehicles standing around on the reddish stone ground, holes and piles of dug-up rocks scattered across the surface of the asteroid. There were containers and living units (though the absence of people seemed to indicate there currently was no mining going on, apparently) stacked on top of each other on various points and overhead, the black vastness of space was shining behind the faint shimmer of an oxygen dome. Floating screens completed the environment, though at this point most of them were either displaying nothing or complete nonsense, further indicating that this colony didn't seem to be in use right now.
"No, I think this is one of the mining asteroids. I Chaos Controlled us here. But, again, how did you Chaos Control?"
"I…" Sonic shook his head, also wincing as he saw what Shadow looked like. "Oh. Uh, sorry 'bout that," he grimaced, wiping at his mouth with the back of his glove. "But yeah, I dunno, saw you do it, so I just…tried it, too."
"You just tried a technique for which I was specifically genetically engineered by a world class genius?" Shadow asked (and he also only succeeded by making a deal with an evil alien overlord, he did not quite add).
"Yeah?" Sonic shrugged. "I mean, you could do it, so how hard could it be, right?" he then added with a grin, marvellously also managing to get the shaky feeling inside Shadow largely replaced with commonplace annoyance. Then he cocked his head. "But, say…weren't we just…somewhere else, though? Before I passed out," he asked, for the first time taking in their surroundings, the asteroid surface far below, other steel beam mining constructs erected in the distance, more satellite cargo containers in orbit around it above, and the ARK still a distant fixture in the nighttime sky.
"Yeah. I managed to get to the bridge, but then Robotnik trapped me in a capsule and shot me out to space. You showed up just before it would have exploded with me in it," Shadow said, glad that his voice at least held steady while talking about it, free from any of the flashes of paralyzing memories or fear that had come up before when he had been trapped in pods.
"Oh. Yeesh," Sonic commented, eye ridges rising in alarm - before then immediately narrowing, also scrambling around to kneel in front of Shadow on the steel beam, pointing an accusing finger at him, "...which actually wouldn't have happened if you hadn't ditched us! The hell, dude?!"
Shadow rolled his eyes, ignoring the slight sting of guilt he wouldn't quite admit he felt, also refusing to admit to any of the feelings he had just had a minute before now, "Yeah, I 'ditched' you in a gravity-reversed environment, your only hope a flying fox," he felt like he had to point out, crossing his arms "You were fine."
"Not the point!"
"Fine! I apologize!" Shadow snapped (privately also glad Maria wasn't here to hear him apologize to Sonic the Hedgehog a second time, she'd have a field day). He turned his head to look to the side. "Also you got what you wanted. The lunatic currently trying to blow up Liechtenstein is still alive."
"Great," Sonic sighed, picking himself up and grabbing the Emerald he'd used to Chaos Control, tossing it once in the air. "So, we should get back and make sure Lichtenthingy still exists in half an hour. Can you at least tell me you agree that we should work together this time? Without attempts at murder?"
"Fine," Shadow growled for the second time, glaring, before actually freezing as he remembered his first question - "Wait. Where did you even get the real Emerald?"
It didn't make sense. The real Emerald had been left with Maria and Amy at the laboratory, Shadow had seen it there when he had Chaos Controlled himself, Tails and Sonic out of there, there was no way Sonic could have it.
If that even was the real Emerald.
Shadow took a half-step backwards, eyes narrowing. Robotnik had said that only a real Chaos Emerald had the power to enable someone to Chaos Control into the escape pod he had locked Shadow into. But that could easily have been a lie, too. And they had already established that Robotnik was able to produce hedgehog doppelgangers capable of Chaos Control. What if this hedgehog who had just "saved" him wasn't even…?
"Hold up," Shadow said, reaching into his quills and pulling out his gun again, though this time levelling it at the other hedgehog. "You're not Sonic - and that isn't the real Emerald."
"What?!" Shadow had to admit, in comparison to the kind of strange, almost wooden behaviour his own doppelganger had exhibited, this 'Sonic''s expressions were rather realistic and life-like; right now he was staring at Shadow in utter confusion, unable to step back because he was already at the edge of the steel beam, but raising his hands as if a gesture to de-escalate the situation. "Shads, have you lost your mind?"
"No," Shadow stated, voice even. "But what am I supposed to believe, that this Emerald just fell from the sky?"
Which was of course the exact moment first a bunch of Emeralds fell from the sky, also followed by a screaming bat.
"-aaaaaAAHOUFF!"
"AGH!" Shadow shouted for the second time that day as first a shower of crystal shards rained down on him and then a rather familiar bat also crashed into him from above, effectively flattening him onto the steel beam again, in a mess of jewels, batwings and godawful timing that someone, somewhere probably found incredibly funny.
"Ow!" said bat also cried out as she went down in a collapse onto him, struggling, "What the-?"
"Hold on! I'll save - Sonic?!"
Shadow, currently lying on his front again, having been flattened by what was obviously Rouge right now sitting atop him, barely managed to raise his head in time to see, somehow, Knuckles now hanging from the steel bar above them, staring at the two hedgehogs and white bat below with wide purple eyes.
"Knuckles?," Sonic asked, disbelievingly. "L-"
"If you say 'Long time no see', I swear I will break both of your legs."
"-lovely to see you," Sonic replied without missing a beat, "Also, what?!" he asked, gesturing broadly at…everything, from Rouge now gingerly climbing off Shadow, to the green Emerald shards still lying scattered across the steel beam structure, to the now obvious signs of a fight both the echidna as well as the female Mobian had clearly been in.
"Hmph! Someone clearly has no manners, hitting a lady," Rouge said, climbing to her feet again and putting her hands on her hips. "Rude."
"You're an Emerald thief, not a lady!" Knuckles barked, also dropping down from the steel beam above he had been holding on to, landing between Shadow and Rouge and making her take another few steps back. "Also, I was just trying to save you from falling into the fire pit!"
"Really?" Rouge asked, coquettishly running a hand along the back of her head where a human woman might have flipped her hair, "Because to me it just looked like an excuse to hold my hand."
"What?" Knuckles' face actually seemed to turn a slightly darker shade of red, "That isn't - I mean I wasn't-!"
"IS EVERYONE HERE NUTS!"
"Huh? Shadow, you okay?" the Sonic doppelganger asked as Shadow was also uprighting himself again, the Ultimate Lifeform once more feeling like he was living in crazy town and not even leaving the freaking school had helped.
"Robotnik is about to fire a SPACE LASER at a small European country in twenty minutes! I was almost killed five minutes ago, you have to be an impostor with a fake Emerald for any of this to make sense, and how and why are you even here?!" he glared at Rouge, finger on the trigger of his gun twitching. The bat's eye ridges had risen at his shouting, her stare wide and turquoise.
"Listen, I was mainly here for the gem shards. But now - wait, what is that? Did you fall into something gross?" she asked, looking at the…substance still on Shadow's chest fur with a grimace of alarm.
"That has nothing to do with the issue!"
"Okay, okay!" Now it was Rouge's turn to lift her hands in an attempt to pacify. "As I was saying - I' ve graciously decided to not want the shards anyway, he can have them." She turned her face up, giving Knuckles a prim look. "After all, they stink like echidnas do!"
And so saying, she let herself drop down from the steel beam, bat wings fanning out and letting her glide away into the vast chaos of the mining area.
"What the - woman, do you think this is a joke?" Knuckles barked after her, shaking his fist. "Also, again, I just tried to save your life when you fell!"
"But…can't she…fly?" the Sonic lookalike asked and Knuckles immediately glared at him.
"And who asked for your opinion?!"
"Stop that. Everybody just…stop," Shadow said, coming to stand next to Knuckles who was now gathering the green crystal shards together, grumbling. "And that isn't Sonic," he said, nodding to Knuckles. "Just an impostor with another fake Chaos Emerald."
"Hm? No, the Chaos Emerald he has is real. The Master Emerald responds to it," Knuckles said, storing the gathered shards in his headquills again. "Why would you think he is an impostor? And what are you two even doing down here?"
"Well, Mr. Independence Day here ditched me and Tails on the ARK, ran off to face Egghead and then got himself shot into space where I just rescued him with Chaos Control," Sonic said, sounding slightly peeved. "And I'd like to not be called a Faker for it, thank you."
"Yeah, right." Shadow crossed his arms. "Where would you have gotten the real Emerald?"
"Amy gave it to me, duh," Sonic snapped back, "When she found me and Tails aboard the ARK, I used it for Chaos Control to find you. Even after you managed to somehow get yourself locked in a murder capsule, again."
"Amy?!" Shadow asked back, flabbergasted. "How…how is she aboard the ARK now?"
Sonic blinked. "Oh. Yeah, now that you mention it…Maria seemed a bit confused about that as well, actually."
"Maria?!"
"Uh…yeah. You okay? Woah!" Sonic asked, mostly because at this point, Shadow had already grabbed him, Knuckles and the yellow Chaos Emerald, shouting
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
xxx
"Woah!"
"Shadow! Sonic got you back! And hey, you found Knuckles!"
"SONIKKU!"
Shadow had to admit, he hadn't really been thinking about much but MARIA! when using the Chaos Emerald, but it seemed to have done the trick - within an instant, they were back aboard the ARK, re-appearing in one of the engine rooms in front of Amy, Tails and yes, Maria, with the hedgehog girl also immediately having tackled Sonic.
"Ma - wait, what do you mean, Sonic got me back?" Shadow immediately bristled at his sister, even if parts of his brain were piping up that there really were more important details here, but "I Chaos Controlled us back up here!"
"Okay, okay," Maria said, briefly raising her hands from where she seemed to have been fiddling with something electronic on the floor. "Did - " she swallowed. "Did you get to my cousin…?"
"Yes, and he's still alive," Shadow scowled. "He…shot me out to space in a capsule rigged to explode before I could do anything. That's where Sonic found me," he added, purposefully not looking at anyone.
"Oh. Oh, thank the gods," Maria said, eyes widening too quickly for it to have been a put-on reaction, her hand also reaching out to wrap around Shadow's wrist, briefly squeezing in what seemed like an instinctive reaction to hold him, electronic project in front of her forgotten. Shadow felt a sudden squeeze at his insides as he saw the flash of fear in his sister's eyes, the first she had shown since this whole thing had started, fear for him, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
Maria turned to look at the others, "Sonic, thank you so much for saving my brother, I don't -," she started, "I wouldn't have known what-" she broke herself off again, shaking her head and swallowing. "Right. Not the time right now." She looked back at Shadow, clearing her throat. "So, does that mean - wait," she suddenly frowned, looking Shadow up and down, "what is that stuff sticking to your chest fur? It looks like-"
"Nothing that matters right now," Shadow snapped instantly, "More important is how on earth did you two get here?"
"How did we get here? You've got some nerve asking us that, after the way you left us behind, how could you do that?" Amy asked, also finally letting go of Sonic (the blue hedgehog also making a sort of strangled/gasping-for-breath noise at least indicating he was very much not an android doppelganger, probably) as she put her hands on her hips, giving Shadow a stern glance.
"No. No no no," Shadow shook his head, "This is a space station. Literal space. This makes even less sense than you somehow showing up in a secret government prison facility. And how did you bring my sister this time?"
"Er. Now that you mention it, this is weird, yeah," Maria said, blinking and looking somewhat confused. "All I remember is Amy being super mad that you suddenly Chaos Controlled away without us - which really sucked, by the way. That's not the way grandfather taught us to act, Shadow, and also not how I thought you two would treat your friends," she said, the last bit directed toward Sonic and Tails and at least the fox kit looking down shamefully at the chastisement.
"But then we…uh," Maria said, starting to frown. "Amy…took the Emerald from the casing, said that we were going to find Sonic now and then we somehow…started walking…you know, it gets really blurry after that," Maria said, now genuine confusion spreading over her features. "Amy, how did we get up to the ARK?"
"Well, Sonic was here, so of course I would find him," Amy shot back, making a throwaway hand gesture before turning on Shadow with crossed arms. "And just in time, seeing how you had also just left Sonic and Tails lost on the station!"
"This still does not actually answer the quest-"
"Guys! There's no time for this, the Eclipse Cannon is going to fire in 15 minutes, we need to get to the bridge and shut it down!" Tails shouted, waving a small computer in his hand. "Shadow, can you Chaos Control us all there?"
"I wouldn't recommend it," Maria said. "If Ivo knows anything about Chaos fields and Chaos control, he might have installed a Chaos disruptor field around the bridge - meaning, anyone who Chaos Controls through it gets their atoms first fried and then scattered as if someone had put them through a quantum meat grinder."
Tails' eyes went wide. "A Chaos disruptor field charged to kill living beings? To…to scatter the very essence of their energy? You think he'd do that?" he asked, looking absolutely shocked.
Maria shrugged. "It's what I'd do - IF I, uh, had the same aims as my cousin, of course!" she hurriedly added as most of the other Mobians had taken a step back on instinct, apparently right now remembering that there were two human Robotniks aboard the ARK right now.
"So that means we should go there on foot, yeah? Suits me, I don't think I'm much for Chaos travel anyhow," Sonic piped up, sticking his tongue out. "Think you can lead all of us to the bridge this time, Shads?"
"If you won't, I will," Maria said, packing up the electronics project she had been working on. "Don't forget - the ARK is my home, too."
Xxx
"Great. I didn't want my sister anywhere near that madman," Shadow grunted as they were running/skating through the corridors of the ARK, Tails carrying Maria to help her keep up, even if the teenage girl was far heavier than his hedgehog brother. Sonic and Shadow were in the lead, the blue hedgehog keeping them at the speed he knew Tails, Knuckles and Amy could keep up with while Shadow navigated their way through the maze that were the bowels of the space colony.
"Yeah, well," Sonic looked over at him with a raised eye ridge. "You gotta learn you can't keep your friends away, Shads. Maybe ask Knuckles for tutoring on that one, that guy had a hard time with that concept, too," he grinned as they took a sharp corner, not in the least bit bothered by Shadow's glower as a reply. "But you gotta admit having someone with us who knows the ARK and its technology is helpful."
"Hnh," Shadow made a scoffing noise, unwilling to admit the latter point and…not quite sure how to respond to the former one. "It certainly appears so," he instead agreed grudgingly, also letting his scowl ease into a more questioning frown. "But on that topic, how?"
"Eh, beats me," Sonic shot back with a shrug. "So far, Amy's found me in power plants, on flying sky fortresses and, somehow, on a magical planet that only appears once in a blue moon. I stopped asking, really."
Shadow bit back the line of questioning of whether it could be Chaos Control and whether everyone could do that now, somehow, when had thought he was special, and instead focused on something else. They were now nearly at the bridge and the gods only knew what would happen when they were there.
"But yeah. Hope you don't still think I'm an impostor, by the way," Sonic continued. "''specially considering that when Eggman made robot doppelgangers of me, he usually went more the horrifying-terminator-direction instead of an actual look-a-like."
"Ah, no. I don't," Shadow replied, also filing that information about Sonic androids away for a later time. For a moment he wasn't sure whether he wanted to continue, but then again, considering what they were about to walk into, he wasn't sure whether he'd get another chance to say it at all. "It," he started, "It wasn't just about me being confused where you should have gotten the Chaos Emerald," he said, just slightly slowing down as they were about to approach the uppermost level, the door leading to Robotnik at the end of the corridor.
"No?" Sonic asked, also slowing down as the others were catching up and cocking his head.
"No," Shadow repeated, refusing the urge to swallow. He wanted to say the next bit. A part of him was fighting tooth and nail, of course, refusing to admit any weakness, but another, worryingly increasingly bigger part insisted that this was the right thing to do, telling the other the truth after he had saved his life. Shadow gritted his teeth. "I think I was actually more disbelieving that anyone other than my family would risk their life - for me."
For a moment, Sonic seemed to blink at him, perhaps a bit taken aback at the radical honesty, and Shadow immediately regretted leaving himself so vulnerable, before -
"Yeah, well," Sonic gave a slight smile, "That's what friends are for, Shads."
The next moment, thankfully their conversation was cut off by everyone else catching up. Shadow saved from replying and the group therefore now collectively ready to confront the rogue Robotnik family member, re-take the ARK and save Liechtenstein and the world.
xxx
"That's the entrance to the bridge?" Tails asked as the others caught up, the troupe now standing in front of the large sliding doors leading to the command centre of the ARK. Around them, green, red and yellow LED elements were dimly pulsating along the metal walls and ceiling, giving the distinct impression they were inside a circulatory system made of steel and fibreglass, about to enter into its brain.
"Do you think he knows we're here?" Amy frowned, hammer newly manifested in her hands, glancing around as if she was expecting badniks around the corner any moment now.
"Possibly, but I would hope not," Tails shook his head. "While we were waiting for Sonic to get back I think I managed to disable the surveillance cameras - those that were still functioning, at any rate…"
"Most of them were shot to pieces during the raid, yeah," Maria added, nodding, before she raised her hand to the keypad. "Now, everybody ready to go in?"
"Only if you stay behind the rest," Shadow stressed, meaningfully stepping in front of her. "Weak human constitution, remember?"
"Thin ice, brother dear," Maria shot back, but then pressed her palm to the keypad. "Also, he's probably behind a forcefield anyway…"
The doors slid apart with a hiss as soon as her hand made contact with the lock's surface, once more revealing the ARK's command bridge; monitors and consoles partially destroyed in the raid, dark stains on them not yet cleaned away alternating with machines cannibalized by Robotnik himself, electronic insides torn open to be rewired for his personal command centre controlling the Eclipse Cannon.
And, of course, the man himself, standing, as Maria had predicted, inside a protective forcefield in the middle of it and whirling around as the door hissed open.
"What the - Shadow?! You were supposed to die, not to multiply!" he spat, glaring at the troupe filing into the room with disdain, gaze of course zeroing in on Sonic. "The last thing I need is more of you blasted critters, and especially not that hedgehog."
"No worries, Doctor. There is and will always be only one of me," Shadow replied, smirking as he gestured at the others. "I just brought some company who'd like a word with you."
"The word will be 'AGH!' when I trap them in capsules!" Robotnik snapped, hand hovering over the console, Sonic and the rest of the Mobians immediately tensing up and readying to defend themselves, Shadow's gaze instinctively flitting over to Maria -
"I would advise strongly against that, cousin."
Robotnik froze.
As did most of the others. Even Shadow for a moment felt slowed down, his gaze wandering from Maria, who was staring at the Doctor, to the scientist and back; the two human Robotniks seemingly locked in a silent stand-off for a moment until the older one finally spoke.
"Maria Robotnik, I presume."
"Yes," Maria said, still looking at her cousin entirely unflinching. The Doctor had uprighted himself, one hand of his running over one half of his moustache, eyes behind dark glasses narrowed at his younger relative, calculating. Right now, even Sonic and the others had fallen silent (even if they were perhaps only trying to figure out a way to get through Robotnik's forcefield) enough you could hear a quill drop, watching.
"And I've come to ask you to not do this," Maria continued, voice steady. "Grandfather raised me and Shadow to respect life. And I know…I know he regrets what he did," she said, Robotnik outwardly not reacting to what she said, but Shadow wondered whether his expression froze for a moment at her words. "But that doesn't mean that using his Eclipse Cannon for what amounts to possible genocide is acceptable. Ivo. Please don't," she finished, staring at him intently. "This is not what we should be using our genius for."
For a moment, Robotnik merely regarded her silently.
Then: "Really. And I suppose our grandfather used his so wisely, the supposedly 'Ultimate Lifeform' he created was on purpose made to be a half-alien aberration, whose very existence will bring interplanetary war with the Black Arms to us in fifty years? Oh, I see they haven't told you that interesting tidbit, Sonic, did they?" Robotnik sneered, the last question addressed toward the blue hedgehog, whose eye ridges rose at this new information. Maria also flinched as he said it, her determined expression briefly displaced by worry as she shot a glance toward Shadow, likely just as nervous as him how they'd digest that information.
"That…" Maria tried to obviously bravely rally. "That…may not have been the wisest decision, yes. But grandfather did that to save my life," Maria swallowed. "He was desperate, you can't hold that against him."
"And I'm sure everyone on Earth will see it exactly like that when the Black Arms, being a hive mind species, will undoubtedly mind-control grandfather's little chimera project here and use him to take over the planet in half a century," Robotnik continued, an almost malevolent glee shining behind his dark glasses as Shadow could feel his own blood drain from his face at what the Doctor was describing; this was not what Professor Gerald had told him about the meaning of his Black Arms heritage. His gaze flickered over to the others, mouth dry at wondering how they would take this - not judging him for being an experiment was one thing, not judging him for being a (potentially dangerous if Robotnik was to be believed) alien…
"Then we will deal with that when it comes to it," Sonic's voice cut clear through the silence, the blue hedgehog stepping up next to Shadow. "Even if I may have to up my training to still be able to kick wannabe conqueror butts like yours even in fifty years, I think we'll manage," he said, grinning up at Robotnik as he clapped a hand on Shadow's shoulder at the 'we' - and for once, Shadow was surprised he did not feel like shaking it off.
"Yeah," Amy chimed in, also grasping Maria's free hand that wasn't holding the tech she was carrying. "And, by the way? A-plus speech," she said, gazing up at the human girl with a smile, before immediately turning back to Robotnik. "So you better listen to her!"
"Especially before I've disabled your forcefield," Tails said, "And then we'll shut down both you and the countdown."
"Painfully," Knuckles underlined with a nod, curling his fist in demonstration.
Robotnik snorted. "Will you. And what is supposed to stop me from simply turning the ARK's defensive system on you? Never mind that there is no way for either you or the fox brat to disable my forcefield in time to prevent the Eclipse Cannon from firing," he said, patting the console controlling the weapon next to him. "And once it does, Earth will finally bend to my will! OHOHOHO!"
"But - you don't have to do this! Please," Maria pleaded, blinking away the tears that had formed in her eyes as Amy had grasped her hand. "Even if - even if grandfather made mistakes, doesn't this mean that we can be better?"
"Heh! Nature versus nurture, eh? A compelling argument," Robotnik replied, pursing his lips. "But consider this, cousin," he said, bending forward so his dark glasses were more on an eye level to Maria's blue gaze, the reddish light from the screens letting the older scientist appear more demon than man. "I am fully aware of my choices and this - not hiding from his own power like our progenitor is doing, not awaiting to be enslaved like his other 'creations'," he off-handedly gestured toward Shadow before bending back toward her, expression intent and teeth bared in what only a fool would have called a smile, "but being able to fully and completely live my genius, Maria, is exactly where I want to be."
Maria stared back. "I see," she finally said. "Then you also leave me no choice," she continued, Shadow not having a chance to say anything else before she was already raising the contraption she held in her hand, a small metal box, her thumb resting on the button on top of it.
"Stop the cannon countdown, cousin, or I will blow up this bridge room with both of us in it."
To be continued…
Well well well, long time no s- *is shot* I MEAN, happy belated new year and hope you liked it! Things continue coming to a head, and while this much action and so many characters mean writing is definitely not easy, your continued reviews are a treat and help with motivation so much :D Also, Sonic Frontiers is amazing and my gods, it seems there is CONTINUITY now? NO WAY! But anyway, really hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you read, please review! :D