Sonic: Atonement
Chapter 13: Look Like Me
"Of course Eggman would take down an entire historical temple just because..." Zero said with a disgusted tone as he got to his feet.
"And he got away with my emerald!" Rouge grunted irritably as she got to her feet as well.
"Hmph, so you were being a little facetious with your reasons for coming here." He pointed out to Rouge. She let out a small huff and rested her hand on her hip.
"Don't act so surprised. You were doing exactly the same thing – not that it matters now. Eggman has the emerald, and we're not gonna catch up with him in that drill." Rouge said with a shake of her head.
"Still, what did you want the emerald for?" He questioned her now.
"It's like I said before, sweetie. Beautiful, rare gems are my specialty. You know of any gems more rare or fine than the chaos emeralds?" Rouge asked rhetorically with a sideways smile and a raise of her eyebrow.
"Now you're just wasting my time," Zero huffed irritably. "I need the chaos emeralds to accomplish my goals. That was too important to just let slip away."
"You want to use the chaos emeralds to kill Dr. Eggman, right? That's what I heard you say in there." Rouge asked.
"That's the biggest step but it's not the only one." Zero grumbled.
"Oh? There's more?" Rouge hummed.
"Zero! Stop talking to her! There's another chaos emerald signature rapidly approaching your location now!" Max suddenly spoke up in his ear.
"Hm?" Zero's head perked up, "Another chaos emerald?" He repeated aloud, looking around curiously.
"Huh?" Rouge reacted similarly.
In a quick flash of light, another hedgehog appeared by them. He turned around to face them, scowling the moment his eyes fell onto Zero. He took a step forward. Zero took a step back, his eyes furrowing at the sight of this unfamiliar hedgehog.
"Rouge. What're you doing here?" He asked curiously.
"Shadow? I was about to ask you the same question. Were you here for the emerald too?" Rouge asked.
"I was tracking Eggman. I figured his presence here on such a far away island could only mean that he had located a chaos emerald." Shadow explained.
"Well you're too late. He's already gotten away with it. Unless you want to dig through the rubble and follow the burrow holes his drill left behind." Rouge offered.
"All that destruction was to cover his tracks," Zero realized. "If he's playing the waiting game it could take forever for us to find him."
"Eggman will get his turn. Right now, you and I have a score to settle." Shadow said, pointing at Zero.
"Huh?"
"You're the hedgehog that wants to kill Sonic and the mad doctor, aren't you?" Shadow asked him outright.
"Kill Sonic?" Rouge repeated in surprise.
"Hm, another one of Sonic's friends. Just what I need right now." Zero grumbled again.
"My name is Shadow the hedgehog. Your goals stand to threaten the future of the entire world, and for that I can't allow you to continue." He declared.
"Killing Sonic and Eggman will make the world undeniably better. You don't know what you're talking about." Zero said with a low growl.
"You idiot! You really don't know what the consequences of your actions will be. You have no idea what kind of future you'll cause." Shadow said.
"You have no idea what kind of future you're protecting by letting them live." Zero said as a rebuttal.
"Either way, this is where it ends for you." Shadow said, his eyes narrowing on Zero as he crouched down and got ready to attack.
Zero let out a huff before boosting forward without hesitation, throwing a sweeping right hook at Shadow's head. Shadow ducked underneath it just in time. He turned around and shot towards Zero with a homing attack. Zero jumped up and kicked Shadow aside with a left kick across his body.
Shadow bounced off the ground and landed smoothly on his feet. Zero turned on his feet and boosted right into him again with another punch. Shadow blocked it and threw 2 punches of his own. Zero took the first one in the arm and then blocked the second one.
Shadow threw a quick kick to Zero's head. Zero caught it, flinching in surprise at the amount of force behind it. He stumbled sideways a little bit. Shadow threw another punch at him. Zero avoided it and readjusted his footing. Shadow switched his feet to keep Zero in front of him.
Shadow saw his opportunity to go on the offensive. He jumped forward and started throwing several more punches, forcing Zero to have to step back each time. Zero backed into a tree and slipped behind it as Shadow threw a punch and hit the trunk instead of him.
Zero rushed around the other side of the tree and slammed his shoulder into Shadow. As Shadow stumbled to the side, Zero tried to get him with another punch but he was able to swipe it away with his hand. So Zero boosted past him and disappeared into the trees.
"Don't try to run!" Shadow shouted, chasing after him into a thicker part of the forest.
However, Shadow was suddenly struck in the side of the head by Zero. Shadow stumbled and spun around just in time to see Zero disappear into the trees again. Then he was struck in the back. Then again in the shoulder. Shadow tried his best to dodge Zero's attacks but he couldn't see where they were coming from.
"Not bad for a copycat hedgehog. You may look like me but you've got a lot to learn." Shadow said.
Zero came in for another punch. This time, Shadow saw him coming and dodged it. As Zero zoomed past him, a beam of light appeared in his hand. He aimed a chaos spear at Zero's back. Zero weaved around the tree just in time to avoid the blast hitting the tree and knocking it over.
Shadow continued to fling chaos blasts at Zero every time he saw him speeding past. Tree after tree toppled over, getting rid of hiding places for Zero to avoid detection. Finally, Zero made an effort to attack Shadow from behind.
"Nowhere left to go," Shadow said, pulling out his chaos emerald. He tossed it into the air, caught it with the other hand and pointed it in Zero's direction. "Chaos...blast!"
Zero went in for a homing attack as quickly as he could; he dove towards Shadow and collided right into the chaos emerald itself. This suspended Zero in the air even while we was still spinning. As the chaos blast emitted from Shadow, Zero was sent flying back.
Zero went bouncing across the floor several times before sliding to a stop face-down. His clothes and his quills were singed from the blast. Zero let out a groan as he pushed himself up onto one knee. Shadow was already walking up to him.
"So you have a chaos emerald too, huh? I've never seen anyone use it like that before." Zero noted as he got back up to his feet. His legs were feeling heavy and shaky but he forced himself to stay standing.
"You're a fool. You think you can take on Eggman like this? You're not even be strong enough to take down Sonic. And you never will be." Shadow shook his head at Zero.
"I'll never stop fighting. You can protect them all you want. It's only a matter of time." Zero declared defiantly, boosting towards Shadow again.
"Chaos control!" Shadow slowed down time. He ran around Zero and kicked him in the back of the head. As time resumed, Zero fell face first onto the ground again.
"Shoot..." Zero grumbled under his breath, disoriented by how the back of his head was stinging.
"It's my duty to protect the earth. That is a promise that I made; to stop the likes of you who can't see beyond themselves." Shadow said seriously.
"Oh I know all about that...I made a promise too." Zero said in response, looking over his shoulder and glaring fiercely back at Shadow. The expression on Zero's face was one that Shadow recognized all too well. It actually gave him pause.
"Hold on now," Rouge said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Shadow's chest. "Before we do anything hasty, let's get a better understanding of what's happening here." She recommended.
"Rouge..." Shadow gave her a look. Rouge took a moment before nodding knowingly in response.
"You don't want to go there." She said to him in response.
This momentary distraction was all that Zero needed to regain his strength. He dashed off to the side and dove into the wreckage of the ancient Echidna temple. Shadow quickly grabbed his emerald again to chase after him, but quickly lost him in one of the underground tunnels made by Eggman's robot.
"Great..." Shadow grunted irritably.
"He's a slippery one...hm...you're gonna have to catch me up on what's going on, Shadow." Rouge said, turning her attention back to him now.
"Hmph...follow me." Shadow said, turning and walking away from the fallen ruins. Rouge let out a small exhale and fell in step next to him...