SONIC ADVENTURE 3

Section 1-The Chaos Factor

PROLOGUE/ Part I

The colony was about to crash with Earth. SuperSonic and HyperShadow were the only two left between Earth and total destruction. HyperShadow was running out of energy. After all, he'd never been Hyper before. He and SuperSonic used a Chaos Control to stop the colony. SuperSonic was all right, but HyperShadow ran out of power and, after being forced to morph back to Shadow, plummeted to Earth to his inevitable doom...

On his way through the atmosphere, Shadow knew that he was to die. He had fufilled his promise to Maria, and all was well.

But..

He sensed that he was not done. Somewhere, someone was planning another evil attack. He had to stop them. He summoned all his strength and turned Hyper again. He survived the trip through the Earth's atmosphere. He landed on Earth and reverted back.

Shadow looked around him. It was here. Somewhere, in this jungle, was an evil source of power. He raced through, and, in his weakened state, barely made it, but found a giant barracks.

This was it. This was the source of the evil. He had to get through the defenses and stop whoever it was. He began to approach the base stealthily.

Part II

“Wake up, Sonic!”

“What, wha¼huh?”

“Come on, the game’s almost over.”

Sonic sat up. He remembered everything. Space colony falling¼minutes left¼Eggman¼world domination¼race to core¼Amy in danger¼ultimate life form¼turning super¼defeat the prototype of ultimate life¼Chaos Control¼Shadow out of power¼falling¼unsolved mysteries¼no, Shadow, no¼can’t die¼ultimate life¼no¼gone forever¼and then Tails offered to bring him and his friends to a baseball game at Chaos Stadium to calm his nerves.

Only, it had done the opposite. The snail’s pace had put him to sleep, making him remember everything of the past few days. Everything was so horrifically real, just like it was when it happened.

Sonic looked up. He saw the group hanging out together. Amy and Tails were watching the game together, and Knuckles and Rouge were laughing over a funnel cake. Why couldn’t he join them? Why couldn’t he forget everything like they had, and return to normal life?

Because he was Sonic the Hedgehog. He knew that, as the world’s hero, danger would return. In what way, he did not know. What he did know was, when it struck, he would be the one to call. He would be the one to¼

“Sonic!”

“Okay, I’m awake!”

He heard the P.A. announcer say, “And, after eight innings of play, the Shockers lead the Bats, 6 to-“

A giant explosion near the scoreboard in right field cut him off. A hovering fleet of robots flew up. Some hovered up over the stadium, while others swooped into the stands.

This, Sonic thought, was the danger to come.

Dr. Ivo Eggman did not know how to feel.

On the one hand, he had saved the world from total destruction and stopped his insane grandfather’s plot. On the other, he had probably lost his best chance at world domination, his main goal.

So how was he supposed to feel?

He would never get a chance like that to rule the world. Rouge had gone off to help Knuckles with his adventures. Shadow had surely died in that fall off the space colony.

But he had one thing to his advantage. Sonic now considered him an ally. If he could keep that up, Sonic would be shocked if he went for another domination plot.

Only one problem. He was out of ideas.

He had tried everything. What else could he do?

A communication came by fax. Slowly, he tore it out.

It read: Contact me immediately at this number.

Confused, Eggman called the number. A dark voice answered. “I’m so glad you could do business with us.”                                         

Crystal was enthralled with the progress so far. Blade couldn't be more disappointed.

Crystal knew that the defenses would hold up against anything. Blade knew, but didn't care. He thought their operations would be ruined because interior protection was too weak. Someone could break in instantly.

Crystal flipped her light blue hair and gazed at Flint with her ice blue eyes. "Everything's going nice, huh?" Blade shrugged his shoulders and grunted.

Crystal turned back. Blade continued with his work. He thought about their plan again. They would first take control of all the satellites around Earth, shutting off most communications. Sure, they could use the radio, but they could handle that later. But, that couldn't happen until they had four of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Once they had that done, they would demand the other three or they would destroy all the Earth's communications, putting mankind in the black.

Right now, they had two. Crystal had stolen one from Capital City's government building, while he had taken one from the abandoned Space Colony ARK. They could use the same technology he used to get up to the colony to take control of the satellites. Once he had that, he would make a weapon of mass destruction that wouldn't backfire like the Eclipse Cannon did.

Only one problem. He didn't know how.

He could create all this machinery in the base to communicate and defend, but until he learned real technology, he wouldn't get far. But he knew a solution-find someone who did.

There were two people he knew of that could help him. One of them was Miles "Tails" Prower, that two tailed fox that hung out with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic. He couldn't get anywhere near Sonic with this plan. He'd find out somehow.

The other was Dr. Ivo Eggman. He was the one who tried to use the Eclipse Cannon. Ah...that would work.

He had Crystal fax the doctor. In minutes, he had him on the phone. Blade explained everything. The doctor quickly agreed.

Perfect. With this intact, he could create the ultimate weapon. And if that didn't work, he and Crystal could use the Emeralds themselves.

Crystal knew just one more person they had to call. A weasel named Nack who could steal something with the greatest of ease. But before she could call, the partners heard a huge explosion downstairs, followed by a siren.

"Warning: Intruder is present. Warning: Intruder is present."

PART III

It was all too easy.

Shadow had snuck through the base easily. Any defenses who had gotten in his way were destroyed with the greatest of ease. The one slight problem was that some of the defense agents didn't like getting beat up so easily. Those who lived set off the alarm.

At least it would be a challenge.

He dashed up the base, getting past all defenses up until one point. A huge fire pit lied ahead of him. No trouble. He prepared to go Hyper, but couldn't. He tried again. Nothing. Why couldn't he change?

He managed to use his hovershoes to get across, but something didn't add up. Just an hour ago, he could go Hyper with minimal strength, but now he couldn't do it with all his power. He would have to figure this out later.

He made it to the top. The doors read "Communications." This must be it.

He busted the door open, then saw why he couldn't morph. He saw a red and blue Chaos Emerald in two capsules. Then he saw two others beside them. One was tall with fiery red hair and a dark look on his face. The other had crystal blue eyes and bright blue hair. These two were responsible.

"I don't believe it," Shadow muttered.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!"

Shadow proceeded to destroy the place with every bit of power he had. The two people-they must be partners-tried guns and other weapons to stop him. Pitiful humans. They couldn't stop him with such weak weaponry. He was screaming, "I will not let another tragedy like the space colony happen AGAIN! I will NOT let that happen! Not to anyone! NOT TO MARIA!!!!!"

The two humans were stunned. They couldn't do a thing. They just stood and watched as this hedgehog destroyed everything they had.

Next, Shadow attacked the humans. At full strength, they might have made short work of him, but Shadow's element of surprise and their unprepared state were enough for Shadow to take them out. Not just take them out, totally wipe them out. There was no way they were going to get up for a while.

An hour later, it was all over. Shadow was panting, shaking, then raced off, leaving the two in a huge rubble pit.

Blade looked at Crystal. For the first time, he showed an expression other than anger. He showed surprise and, possibly, fear. "I don't believe it."

Crystal nodded weakely. She tried to smile, but it took too much strength. "That was the ultimate life form."

Sonic looked around. He saw metal and glass. He looked in his hand. There was a yellow Chaos Emerald in it. It was the Space Colony! He saw Tails, Eggman, and Amy in front of him. Eggman had a gun tho Amy's head.

"Put the Emerald down there and back off! That is, if you really care for her."

It was the fake Emerald in his hand, he realized. He put it down. That was weird. Wasn't he supposed to trap him or something? Then he heard Eggman cock the hammer.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her!"

"No I didn't. I said do it if you cared for her. To be honest...I DON'T!" The gun fired.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

But it was too late. Amy fell to the ground.

"Come on Sonic! We have to help!"

"No, Amy, no..."

"Huh? No helping?"

"What?"

He looked up. It was Amy. He was at the ballpark. It was another dream.

"I don't get it Amy. It's not just that the Space Colony was bad enough to cause these nightmares, but they're altered to make them scarier."

"Well, can we worry about that later? We have to stop these robots."

"Oh, yeah."

Sonic rushed over to the robots. They didn't look like Eggman's robots. They weren't from GUN, either. What were they? Whatever they were, they weren't going anywhere. He wiped out half of them easily before the rest flew away into the streets. Unfortunately, they had left their mark. A whole chunk of the stadium was missing. The rest was on fire.

They had to follow those robots. Sonic ran after the flock, but obviously, since he couldn't fly like they could, he couldn't do a thing. Unless...

A minute later, Tails was gripping him by the wrists, flying up to the robots. Sonic lept from Tails' grasp and took out all of the fleet except for two. Tails caught him, then had to land because he was exahusted. The gang followed them.

Then they saw where they were going. It was a trap.

A gang of gargantuan mecha bots were there.

"Well Sonic, we found it," Knuckles said uneasily.

"Yep," the hedgehog replied, tightening his gloves. "The jackpot at the end of the rainbow."

Eggman couldn't believe it.

It was almost like someone was reading his mind. Just as he was thinking about what to do next, here came this message asking for his help in another world plot.

He took out his old Egg Walker. It had served him very well, but now he had to use it to follow up a raid near Chaos Stadium. A group of Blade and Crystal's hunter robots were assaulting there. Most likely, Sonic would rush to the scene. That's were he came in; he'd finish off that hedgehog right then and there.

It was a simple trap, yet so perfect.

He took the walker into its hovering form and zipped over to the city. Just as Blade had said, Sonic and his pals were taking on a giant pair of hunter bots. Once they were done, they would be exhausted. Then he comes in and BAM! The hedgehog is finished. Without Sonic, the group would fall apart, and the only threat left would be Knuckles. Too easy.

Then, he picked up a signal on his radar. That's strange. It had the same reading as Sonic. Only it was slightly different. It felt like it had a powerful Chaos strength inside...

"Oh...my..."

"It's Shadow

Part IV

Blade and Crystal didn't know what to make of the situation.

They had spent countless days, weeks, even months to build this base of operations. They had spent many days building up its defenses. And then, of all luck, Shadow, the ultimate life form, finds them and destroys it all in a matter of an hour.

Now what?

Crystal's next step was to call Nack the Weasel to have his assistance in their plan, but without a base, they weren't only out of communicatoin with Nack, they couldn't call Eggman, and they had lost their two Chaos Emeralds. Blade was furious. He knew someone would pass Crystal's defenses, and without an interior defense, they were doomed.

"Well, your defense did a great job of defending," Blade growled.

"Shut up! What were the odds that black hedgehog would show up?" Crystal responded.

"Okay, let's both settle down," Blade said. "We have to get this plan back together. Do you still have the Chaos Radar I gave you?"

Blade had snuck into the Space Colony and had not only gotten the red Chaos Emerald, but gotten the Chaos Radar, too. Apperantly, Eggman had left it there.

"Yep. And we're not too far from the purple one, it seems."

"That's odd. Why isn't it picking up our emeralds?" Blade said.

"Take it easy. Sooner or later, ALL of them will be our emeralds."

"You have a point. Where does the radar tell us to go?"

"North by northeast."

"Okay. Let's roll. I've been waiting to give my beam sword another workout." Blade revealed his fire beam sword.

"I'm right behind you," Crystal said, a sly look in her face as she got her ice axe ready.

The two partners in crime set out for the purple Emerald, unknowing that the guardian of the Emerald would be a challenge to even them.

Shadow couldn't believe who he'd stumbled upon.

He knew taking out the doctor and his new friends wasn't going to be an easy task. Of course, nothing was too hard for Shadow. If everything this newfound alliance threw at him was as easy as breaking into that base and destroying it, this would be a pretty easy foiling of the plot.

Of course, they weren't expecting the ultimate life form. These robots would be a little more versetille. He may actually need some help.

And who to show up but Sonic and his pals.

Now the question arose: Should he reveal himself right off the bat, or stay hidden so they didn't know he was alive? If he revealed himself, he could create plans with Sonic involved, but the doctor would know. Of course, those people he attacked would tell him all about it, if they knew who he was, but he didn't know if they did.

On the other hand, he could stay hidden, and the doctor wouldn't know (hopefully) that he was still alive. But then, the plans would be harder to make with only one hedgehog.

He decided to stay in the shadows. He couldn't risk the doctor knowing.

He saw the two robots begin to approach the group. There was no way they could take them out AND the doctor. But attacking Eggman would spoil the whole point of staying hidden. So he got an idea. He took off the bracelet he still had left from the fall (he lost the other one) and threw it at Sonic. He quickly ran away.

His aim was good. It hit Sonic right in the head, taking his attention from the hunter bots. He looked back and saw Eggman.

Immediately, he told the group to attack Eggman, while they would leave the hunter robots for later. This was Shadow's chance.

He leapt down off the building he was on and prepared to do combat with the hunter robots.

Sonic blinked. The Space Colony was plummeting towards Earth. He looked at Shadow next to him. They knew they had to use Chaos Control to save it. They tried it. It didn't work. They tried using it again. Nothing. Suddenly, Shadow lost his Hyper and plummeted towards Earth. No! He had to save Shadow, and stop the Space Colony. He went for the colony first, but for some reason, he lost his Super, too. Then the Biolizard appeared out of nowhere and started to open his mouth and chomp on him...

"Come on Sonic!"

It was Tails, waking him from another nightmare. What was causing these?

Anyway, he had to stop Eggman. He never knew the big guy had such good aim. Those hunter robots could wait.

"Tails, can you give me a lift?"

"Sure thing, Sonic!"

The flying fox grabbed Sonic's wrists and flew him up to Eggman. Sonic leapt to attack him. A little short. Tails saved him from the fall. They flew up again. This time, he was too far right. Again, Tails grabbed him in time. The third time, he landed, but Eggman shot out this punching glove and knocked him up. This time, Knuckles glided over and caught him. Sonic saw Tails on the ground resting.

"Grab on my foot," Knuckles grunted. Sonic grabbed the echidna's shoe. He began climbing up the wall with Sonic riding his foot.

When they reached the top, the two began attacking Eggman's hover machine. Somehow, their attacks were bouncing right off the machine's metal shield. Eggman, in the meantime, was firing off missles that were hitting Amy, Rouge, and Tails, who were still at the bottom.

Sonic called Amy and Rouge up. Rouge used her wings to float up, while Amy used her hammer to blast up. Unfortunately, a shot from Eggman's Volkan Cannon hit Amy right as she was coming up, and she fell all the way down. She fell unconscious for a period of time.

Rouge and Knuckles were attacking at will, but it was getting them nowhere. This was some machine Eggman had made! Next, Eggman shot out a series of rockets that hurt Rouge and knocked out Knuckles. Who could blame the big guy? He had been through a lot.

This left Sonic, Tails, and Rouge. Rouge was damaged, Tails was tired, and Sonic wasn't doing much. Finally, Sonic came up with a plan.

"Rouge, try the Black Wave."

"Okay," she said a bit uneasily.

She fired the wave. Eggman wasn't damaged, though he was a bit confused. Quickly, Sonic shot a Sonic Wind that finally shut down Eggman's shield. This let Rouge and Sonic batter away. Finally, Eggman's machine was short-circuting.

"You may have won this round, but we finally have a fullproof plot that we've prepared for anything. We're preparing for things even YOU don't know about." He flew away.

"Didn't he say that about the last plan?" Rouge questioned.

"I don't know, but we're the only ones left. Let's get Tails and take out those giant robots."

"Don't bother." Tails yelled.

"Why not?" Sonic shouted.

He quickly saw why. In front of him, the two robots they had prepared for serious battle with were now destroyed. Not just destroyed, decimated. Every bit of machinery that they had cowered in fear of was gone.

Sonic tried to figure it out, but his head started searing in pain, and he fell into another nightmare.

The doctor couldn't believe it. Just like that, his machine was destroyed.

It was just like old times.

On his way back to the pyramid base, he tried to phone Blade and Crystal. That was odd. The voice on the other end said that the connection had discontinued. There must be some logical explination for this.

And then he saw the robots. He remembered he wasn't supposed to strike until Sonic and his loser friends were worn out by them. But they had struck first. And in the midst of their fighting, someone or something had destroyed them.

And then he remembered Shadow.

But there was no way that he could have defeated Blade and Crystal AND rush back here, ruin his plot, and defeat the hunter robots.

Of course, he WAS the ultimate life form.

Very well, he thought. He would have to take matters into his own hands.

Suddenly, his built-in phone rang. He picked it up. It was Crystal.

"Eggman, how did it go?"

"Not well at all. They didn't fall for it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean they didn't fall for it. Somehow, they noticed me and attacked me. They managed to beat me, then I saw that the hunter bots were destroyed."

"What? How?"

"You wouldn't happen to know about Shadow, would you?"

Silence on the other end.

"No way..."

"That's what I thought."

"He's the one who-"

"I know. I figured it out."

"Oh..."

"We're looking for one of the Emeralds now."

"I have one."

"Good. Now I want you to contact Nack the-"

Rustling at the other end of the line.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Stay back!"

"Ugh!"

"UHHHHHH!"

"Crystal!-Oh no-GET BACK! AHHHH-"

Eggman lost the connection.

Part IV

Whatever that was, it wasn't human.

That gargantuan beam was the biggest Blade had seen in quite some time. And he had seen some strong fighters before.

This, as he said, was not human. This was a hideous creature, a giant sludgeball with wings. The Chaos Radar said the purple Emerald should be right here. Blade put two and two together and figured this thing was here to guard it.

First thing was first. He carried the unconscious Crystal over to a grassy field. It was hard enough for him to see her from here in the field. He figured it would be good enough cover to keep that freak from her for the time being.

Next, he pulled out his fire sabre. His friends didn't call him "Blade" for nothing. The sword wasn't nearly as strong as it could be, but with the Chaos Emerald nearby, maybe Blade could draw some power from it.

His sabre powered up, and glowed a dark crimson. He charged ahead at the beast and leapt into the air. His sword came down, slicing the monster in two.

Piece of cake.

At least until Blade noticed the thing hadn't died. Now there were two of them. Ah yes, the old three-headed Hydra trick. He just barely dodged another blast, about the size of the one that took out Crystal, while wondering how he should approach this.

The sabre, he realized, wouldn't be of too much help now, so he put it away for the time being. Another beam just whizzed by him.

Now he really had to think on his feet. Slicing the monster...er...monsters wasn't doing any good. He dodged a shot from the right. Trying to get close enough to do hand to hand combat-another giant blast just missed-was insane. With the two-another beam fired and Blade dodged it again-monsters firing off shots like this, the only way to beat them would be if he had firepower like them.

Then he remembered that he didn't need it. If they had it, he could use it. He drew his sword again. Another beam-when do these things run out of juice?

The next shot that came towards him, he used his sword to deflect into the sky. Confused, they fired two beams at once, which he knocked away again. One monster, obviously getting angry, flew up into the sky and swooped down at him. Blade cut his right wing off, then while the monster was reeling in pain, he pierced the sword through it.

He yanked it out. It was covered in brown goo. What a sickening creature. At least one of them was dead.

The other one managed to sneak up on him. Had it not been for an ice ring that appeared from the fields, he would have been killed. Crystal had awoken, and using the last bit of strength she had, she fired the shot, and froze the creature.

Blade turned to see the crystalized beast. He knew the ice would probably kill it. He went to grab the Emerald, then ran back to the field to get Crystal back to the hospital.

But she wasn't there.

Shadow was surprised at how well this was turning out.

Sure, the plot to rule the world was still going on, but at least he was slowing them down considerably.

Next stop was to Eggman's Pyramid Base. Chances were that, since the jungle base was gone, Eggman's base would be a good substitute.

Now, of course, they knew all about him. Not Sonic, no-he had made sure of that. No, the villains were the ones who knew about him. Eggman probably figured it out after that surprise plan break at the city. Then again, Eggman also didn’t expect someone to roll around who could rip apart those monster robots like paper.

When Shadow reached the base, he was surprised to find that it looked inactive.

Still, he should probably have a look. The GUN military did not think Eggman would be back last time, but he was.

He approached the pyramid even closer now. There were a couple of guard robots left over from last time. No problem for him. A quick skirmish and the robots were gone. However, they seemed a bit stronger than normal. Confused, he went forward.

Suddenly, the platform underneath him sunk quickly under the sandpit. Thinking just as quickly, he blasted his hovershoes as the platform sunk beneath his feet. He knew the shoes had just a little juice left, so he quickly floated over to the next avaliable platform. That was close. If he had stayed in the air too long, his hovershoes would overheat under his weight and burn up. That would, of course, render them useless. That was bad, in this situation.

When he landed on a platform, Shadow thought he finally had a rest. He quickly realized how wrong he was. A huge wave of at least five hundred Beetle and Hornet robots flew overhead, showering lasers over his head.

Oddly enough, the Eggman logo was on each robot in the fleet. The doctor probably stole the plans for the robots and made his own.

WHAM!

One super shot barely missed his arm, and slammed into the platform. It crumbled beneath him. Once again, Shadow pushed the limits of his hovershoes and got to another platform keeping him above the deadly quicksand. He continued trying to wipe out the fleet, but he found it was no use. There were simply too many of them. For the first time, Shadow didn't think he could beat them all. So he did the only thing left.

He ran. Ran for his life.

Shadow's shoes were running out of power, but Shadow still ran, praying they held out as he dodged the bullets until-

"UUGGH!"

He was hit in the back with a normal laser. It wasn't serious, but enough to make him fall down for a second.

"AAAAAHHH!"

He was showered with Super Shots, almost all of them hitting him.

Exhausted and in serious pain, he managed to get up and jump to the next platform without getting shot. But his troubles didn't end there. In fact, they were just about to end.

When he reached the platform, the robots all rammed into the bottom of it. Too late, he saw the dynamite packs on the bottom. The robot's fuel caused the packs to explode. Before he could jump, the fire overtook him and knocked him unconscious. He plunged into the sand. Before he went under, he figured it out.

These weren't leftover robots. These were planned attacks.

Eggman had been waiting for him.

It was all a trap.

Part V

Sonic was running alongside Shadow on top of the track to the Eclipse Cannon. He had to beat Shadow if he was going to stop that cannon. If he didn’t finish him off by then, there was no way he could get to the core and destroy the cannon.

Shadow was proving quite formidable. He kept using Chaos Control to avoid Sonic’s attacks. Sonic went after him using a Homing Attack, but suddenly, Shadow warped away onto the platform.

“And this will end the way it should. The ultimate will reign victorious once more.”

Sonic didn’t know what he meant, but then he saw no platform below him. He had no power left to warp, and he plummeted to his doom¼

Sonic heard a whisper in his ear.

“He just went out cold.” It was Rouge.

“Just started grabbing his head like a lunatic and flailing around.” Knuckles. Naturally. No one else had his “humor” and wit.

Sonic groaned as he tried to move his head.

“Hey, he’s gettin’ up.” Couldn’t tell who that was. His or her voice was too low.

“Boy, I was worried.” That was Amy. He could tell not just because of that high-pitched squeaky voice he had become accustomed to, but because of her childish vocabulary. Boy, I was worried? How kiddie could you get?

He opened his eyes. Then, he wished he didn’t. The amount of babbling that commenced was just insane.

Finally, he heard Tails say the first sane vocabulary so far.

“Hey Sonic, how you feeling?”

“Okay, kid. Ugh¼”

“That was some fall you took.”

“Fall? Oh yeah, the fall from the cannon¼”

“What cannon?”

“You know, the Eclipse Cannon¼”

“Sonic?” Rouge. “That was a long time ago. You didn’t even fall. That was Shadow. We meant you falling off the building.”

“Building?”

“Yeah, duh!” Knuckles yelled, like it was the most obvious thing on earth.

“But, Shadow¼”

“You probably had another dream,” Amy said. For such a childish girl hedgehog, she sure could hit the money with this kind of stuff.

“That’s right. I warped back...uh¼ugh¼” Sonic passed out again.

He woke up an hour later, reeling from yet another dream-the same one he had before. Shadow warped, he fell-the whole deal. He felt like his head was a huge rerun.

Tails and Amy were shaking him vigorously.

"Sonic, wake up!" Tails screamed.

"We need you! Something's happening!" Amy was howling at the top of her lungs.

"Chill! Now what's the deal?"

"There's been a break in at Eggman's base."

"Shadow was there,” Amy included. "He was alive. He entered the base."

"And Knuckles and Rouge went to help, 'cause you weren't up yet,” Tails said.

“And they saved Shadow from quicksand.”

“And Rouge fell in and Knuckles and Shadow couldn’t save her.”

“SHUT UP!!!!!!!!” Sonic was confused tremendously.

“Okay, now WHAT is going on?”

Tails and Amy looked at each other glumly.

“Shadow was alive the whole time. Rouge is dead.”

Eggman's plan worked perfectly. Sure, Shadow wasn't dead, but at least that batgirl who knew all about his interior defenses was out of the way. Nack played that attack perfectly.

After making it back to the base, Eggman figured that Blade could handle whatever was going on by the base. He called Nack and told him all about the plan. He rushed over on his airbike, and slammed right into Rouge. Somehow Shadow had managed to survive his trap. But at least he still had forces left to defeat the echidna and Shadow.

He sent out a fleet of Hornet bots he stole from the military. He saw Knuckles battle like a true hero. Shadow was exhausted, so Knuckles had to lead the assault.

You had to give him credit. Knuckles knew how to battle. He wiped out wave after wave of robots. Shadow started to get stronger and began to battle. Oh well. At least since he was in the base, they couldn't get him before he destroyed the robots.

Even as he destroyed the robots, Eggman saw the fatigue in Knuckles. He was exhausted. Shadow was already weak, and there was no power left in his airshoes. Now was the time.

He floated out in his hover mode, then morphed into a walker. Knuckles didn't look surprised that he was here, but looked like he was ready to drop. Shadow was ready to pass out in a second. Perfect.

Eggman shot numerous missles at Shadow. Somehow, he dodged them, then collapsed. Nack the Weasel zipped by and shot with his machine gun, for insurance.

Next was Knuckles, the rowdy echidna. Eggman fired off a couple Volkan Cannon shots, which Knuckles jumped over. Amazingly, he still had enough in him to get a few solid hits on the walker before Eggman shot a Power Laser to knock him over the edge to join his bat friend in the quicksand.

It wasn't over yet, though. Shadow managed to get some hits on Nack with his Homing Attack, and now, back on his feet and ready to fight, he grabbed onto the bike and ripped out the engine, throwing it at Eggman. It killed two birds with one stone; Nack went spiraling downward and crashed into an area of hard sand before he ran off, and he got a shot on Eggman.

Eggman was lookig directly at Shadow, preparing a shot from his high-powered gun, the crosshairs directly at his head. Shadow was looking around as he floated around in the air, probably wondering where Knuckles was.

"Don't worry Shadow, you'll be seeing him soon."

Shadow looked his way a split second too late. The shot hit him right in the center of his eyes. He fell to the quicksand pit, but a blue flash rushed by and picked him up.

Tails the Fox hovered down a mile away in his Tornado airplane and dropped Shadow off there. He hopped out and flew over to Eggman, holding Sonic by his wrists.

Not long after, Amy hopped out and, carefully, crossed the platforms. She was terrified, especially because her encounters with Eggman usually put her in life-or-death situations. Specifically, she thought of the time she first met Sonic, when Metal Sonic kidnapped her on the Little Planet. (Sonic saved her). She also remembered the time when a gun was pointed at her head on the Space Colony ARK. (Tails came to the rescue). But this was no time to be scared. But she still was.

Because, just a few minutes earlier, it was proven that these situations could result in death.

The proof was in the form of Rouge the Bat.

Part VI

Knuckles saw it all in front of him.

He and Rouge went over to the pyramid to help Shadow. Rouge had just flown by in time to catch him. She quickly threw him up onto a platform. But she just barely grabbed onto the edge of the same floor and was almost up when-

Oh, he dreaded the scene. Something flew by and shot a machine gun at the edge. A few shots drilled her hands and she tumbled into the quicksand. Knuckles went after her, but missed. He grabbed the same ledge and dodged the shots. But for Rouge, it was too late. She was gone.

He had to stop thinking about it, though. He had to defeat Eggman. He had to help Shadow. The fact that Sonic, Tails, and Amy had shown up certinally helped.

He was exhausted. He couldn't go much further. He collapsed to the ground. He needed a rest.

Sonic saw Knuckles go down. He had to help him. He rushed out, grabbed him, and put him in the Tornado. Now Eggman was next.

Sonic hopped onto the ship. No shield this time. He must be worried about Shadow. Tails went into the Tornado, took Knuckles out into a platform, and turned it into the Cyclone.

Amy took out her Piko Piko hammer. It was her only real weapon.

Shadow recharged his boots, then rushed to help Sonic.

Knuckles got rested up enough in the Cyclone, then went out to help, as well.

Nack put a new engine in his airbike, put more weapons in his weapons department, then departed.

Blade found Crystal near a tree sleeping. She had no recolletion of the fight to get the Purple Emerald. The Chaos Radar detected a Chaos Emerald by the pyramid. They got there and saw the fight going on. Blade got his Fire Sabre ready, and Crystal refroze the Ice Axe.

The two sides landed on two different sides of the quicksand ocean. The first ultimate battle was about to begin.

What was going on here?

One minute Crystal is missing. The next, she has no recollection of her near-death situation. Now he had been thrust into a battle with the heroes he specifically wanted to AVOID! Everything was going wrong. And it was happening so FAST!

Blade was totally confused. Why did Shadow have to break into his base? Why did that monster take out Crystal? Why did he have to reveal his plot?

Wait. He didn't!

He could just leave the fight. He'd explain to Eggman later. He did a good job by getting Nack on their side again.

But Shadow knew. He recognized him almost instantly. There was no hiding it now. Blade drew his fire sabre and charged at Shadow.

Okay, what was going on?

Crystal had just woken up from what she thought was a long rest at the base. Then Blade had woken her up at the base of some tree. He started yammering about some monster and the ultimate life form and such. She had no idea what he was talking about!

"C'mon Crystal! Let's go!"

Blade motioned her to attack those in front of her. Was that Sonic? THE Sonic the Hedgehog? The one they wanted to avoid? Oh well. Getting rid of him now would be easier than running away from him.

She slashed her Ice Axe at Sonic. They didn't call him the blue blur for nothing. He was past her and had already gotten a few shots behind her to her head before she could whirl around. By the time she turned, Sonic was gone, attacking her from behind again. That was it. She twirled her Ice Axe in all directions. But it didn't hit him. She didn't hear or see him jump.

Then she realized his true speed. He hadn't dodged the axe. He just outran it.

This was doing no good. The doctor could handle Sonic. She needed someone of her own speed.

Someone like that orange fox.

It was them.

The two from the jungle base.

The ones that caused this whole mess.

Before Shadow could even think about defending himself, the red-haired one was on him, attacking with his giant red sword. He was still a bit groggy, but he was the ultimate life form! He didn't need rest.

Shadow started throwing quick jabs. Once, Blade got a nice slash on Shadow. Man, did that red thing hurt! It burned like fire!

The black hedgehog curled up into a ball and fired at the man. Blade dodged, but Shadow leaped up before he dropped into the pit again. That had already happened earlier, but the batgirl...

"Rouge!"

He just realized. He hadn't seen her come up since. She must have fallen into the quicksand.

He just barely jumped over Blade's sword and landed on the other side of the platform.

Sonic started right for Eggman from the get-go. Chances were that these two other people-one had fiery red hair, the other cold blue, each with the same colored eyes as their hair-were just working for him. Take out the boss, and the gang was history.

No shield this time. Eggman was going on the offensive. Missiles and all sorts of fun stuff came shooting out of his mech walker. Sonic offed most of it, but there was always that certain one that made a direct hit. Apparently, the best offense does make a good defense. Sonic had no chance of getting anywhere near Eggman with all that stuff shooting out. He couldn't keep this up. Then, he had an idea.

He used the Bounce Attack.

Sonic began to bounce like a rubber ball towards the walker, he was on the ground for barely a second before he was above all that cannonfire again. He reached Eggman and started using the Homing Attack. But before he could get in a finishing blow, he heard two shrill screams from the back of the arena.

Tails!

Knuckles looked around. He was getting a much needed break over near the pyrimad. After that exhausting fight, Sonic could take over. But then he saw that blue-haired girl start towards Tails. She wasn't trying to fight. She just walked towards him and grabbed him with her fist. She then hopped into the walker, turned it into a plane, and started the engine to fly away. Whoever that was, she was an electronics wiz.

He couldn't let her get away. He leapt up and latched onto the plane at it took off. He saw Sonic yelling towards him and blowing Eggman up real fast. Knuckles didn't think the girl knew he was on there. The one with red hair took off. Amy put one last hit on the weasel on a bike and took off, as well. Eggman retreated into the pyrimad with Nack the Weasel. The only one who followed Eggman was Shadow. Well, with Tails being kidnapped, he didn't follow him. Sonic and Amy would figure out some way to get back.

Suddenly, he heard machine gun fire. Crystal was shooting at him. One shot hit him, and he let go of the plane, tumbling down, down, down...

“Tails!”

Sonic stood for just a second, not believing what he had seen. Then, it hit him. Hello! Tails was being kidnapped! Go!

And did he ever go.

He was a supersonic hedgehog. Only one problem. So was the Tornado. If that girl could start the plane, she could probably kick on the afterburners and get it supersonic. That could create a problem if he was supposed to follow it. They were about to go into a jungle area, which would make it hard to see the plane. One mistake and she had him beat.

He blazed across the forest in a blur. The plane was jetting along just above him. He saw something black running beside him. Could that be¼?

But didn’t he¼

That was the mistake.

He lost track of the plane. No, no! He kept staring. There it was. He got lucky. He could not blow it again.

He kept going by. He managed to leap across the different gaps in the forest and make every turn the plane made. Man, she was a good pilot! He shifted paths and managed to stay with the plane.

The colors blended almost perfectly as he raced by, the brown and lush green environments of the jungle. He wished he could spend more time here, but no such luck.

He thought he had it made. However, nature threw its last line of defense at him. A single tree. Enough for him to crash into before he could react. He fought to get up, but his mind began to swirl in hundreds of colors.

No, not now. Not now, of all times! Don’t¼Tails¼take¼Shadow¼chase¼

Shadow didn’t see Sonic anymore. He must have lost the plane. It was up to him now.

That plane wasn’t going anywhere while he was around. He saw something appear out of the forest. It was black and solid, and...

"Oh my....AHHHH!"

Shadow quickly evaded the black object as it hit the ground. It exploded in a massive orange fireball. Just as he thought. It was a bomb, and she probably had more than just that one with her. Sure enough, another one fell just behind him. He would really have to step on it if he was going to avoid these bombs.

Another one exploded just to his right. She was getting closer with every shot. He had to avoid the trees, too, unless he wanted to end up like Sonic. Left, right, left, right...those bombs were coming too close for comfort. Wasn't she out of those yet?

KERBLAAM!

He felt the heat singe his quills. He saw the plane begin to lower. They must be reaching their destination. Suddenly, he saw his vision explode in a flash of crimson red, felt himself fly sprawling across the plain, and drop down into a pit until he felt a splash of water across his body.

Wake up, you! You're going to drown! But his brain wasn't responding. His vision began to turn from turquoise to black as he gasped for breath, until he felt something scoop him up.

"Rouge?"

But instead, it was a man. He couldn't tell because of his poor vision, but he thought he recognized him. He was holding Rouge with his other hand. Then he remembered; the red haired man! He tried to wriggle free, but the man held him firmly by his wrist.

"Going somewhere?"

Part VI

Amy looked over at Knuckles. He was lying on the ground, immobile. She ran towards him.

“Knuckles?” She tried to move him, but he immediately gave a sharp moan of pain. He opened one eye.

“Amy¼”

“What’s hurt, Knuckles?” Amy had some training in severe injuries back on Mobius. She had graduated at the top of her class.

“Arms¼back¼”

“Oh my¼Can you move at all?”

“I’ll try-ARH!”

“Oh good lord¼I think you’ve broken some bones. I’m calling a helicopter right now.”

“Tails¼Sonic¼”

“Yes, they left. They’ll be back soon. Right now, we have to get you out of here.”

Shadow banged on the walls, then shook the bars as hard as he could. How could he be caught so easily? He knew Rouge was in a cell above him. These people were good. If they could catch him, chances were they could probably conquer the world as well. That was something the doctor could never do. Then again, now that the doctor was working with the two people and the weasel on a bike, he could at least get a piece of the pie.

Something shook behind him. He thought he saw something in the barred window behind him. He shrugged his shoulders. Probably just an animal or something.

“Hey!”

He heard a whisper. He looked up, thinking it was Rouge. When he didn’t see it, he turned around. Behind him and the bars was a man laying on the ground. He had dirty brown hair and emerald green eyes.

“You Shadow the Hedgehog?”

“Yes. What do you want?”

“My name is Flint,” the man said. “Flint Bouliware. I’m here to get you two out.”

“Two?”

“You do know that bat girl above you, right?”

“Yes. Oh, yeah”

“My friend is helping her.”

“Well, why are you doing this?”

“I know, you think we have no idea who you are. We know more about you than you might even know.”

“Huh?”

“No time. I’ve gotta bust you outta here.”

“But-“

“No buts. Watch this.”

He grinned as his shimmering green eyes turned as brown as his hair. He thrust his arm into the air and a giant rock wall appeared behind him. Suddenly, he ducked, and the giant wall came shooting towards the bars. Shadow screamed and hit the dirt.

He looked up. There was a huge hole in the wall. He heard a loud explosion behind him and saw Rouge and a brown haired girl with red eyes blast through the bars. That must be Naomi, Shadow thought.

“Do your stuff, Naomi!” Flint yelled. On cue, Naomi shot out beautiful transparent violet wings from her back. Flint motioned to Shadow and Rouge. Without speaking, the two got on top of Naomi’s huge wings. She took off into the now pitch black midnight sky. A hundred buzzing noises signaled Beetle robots following them.

“Wonderful. The welcoming committee’s here to greet us.” He turned to Shadow and Rouge. “Can you handle them?”

Shadow had been itching to get out of that cramped cell, and was ready to do anything. He grinned. “Count me in.” A simple nod from Rouge confirmed her choice.

The two former partners in crime turned to see an ever-increasing number of Beetle and Hornet robots. About one hundred by their count. The Beetles would be no problem. Rouge worried about the Hornets. Their guns were extremely powerful, and they were faster than the Beetles. Shadow just couldn’t wait to get cracking.

After offing about fifty or so Beetles, they prepared to take on the twenty five Hornets and the few remaining Beetles.

“I’ll take the flying ones,” Shadow muttered sarcastically. He proceeded to demolish ten Hornets and the rest of the Beetles before two Hornet’s shots drilled him, forcing him to sit out for a minute.

Rouge flew up with the Hornets and kicked away two of them. Five of them approached her, but she preformed a Screw Kick to take them all out but one. The one drilled her in the back and she fell off Naomi’s wing. Luckily, Naomi was able to swoop down and catch her, but it gave the Hornets time to regroup. When the group flew back up, there were five more Hornets and another fleet of Beetles. Rouge had enough in her to dodge a few shots and take out one more Hornet before collapsing.

“Great,” Naomi yelled. “Now what?”

“Hey girl, that’s why I’m here!” Flint shouted back. He didn’t just have the power of earth in super power-his experience in martial arts gave him rock solid fighting skills. Plus, he had a nifty wooden staff that he kept with him.

He drew the staff and used it to destroy two Beetles. He jumped away from Naomi and whirled the staff in the air to wipe out six more. Then, using some swift moves, he grabbed the staff again and used a cool maneuver to fuse it to Naomi’s wing for a period. Flint then hopped on top of the staff, balanced his way to the wing, and removed the staff. With only a few Hornets remaining, Flint thought it was the time again.

Those green eyes of his flashed again, and a giant boulder floated up behind him. Pointing the staff in the direction of the fleet, the staff flashed and the colossal rock blasted towards them. None of them survived.

“Okay, Naomi! Everything’s cool up here!” Flint yelled down to his partner. “Let’s make a landing.”

“I’m glad you could join me, Nack.”

“Yes, Doctor. It has been so long since we last did business together.”

“Now remember our deal.”

“Yes, I do. I get my reward later. I can’t sell the Emeralds.”

“I know your criminal background is tempting you like last time. But those gems mean everything to us. We cannot afford to lose even one. Blade has informed me that each one is essential to the plan.”

“Yes, Blade and Crystal have been meaning to contact me for some time.”

“Well, great minds think alike.”

“Yes they do, doctor. Now to the work ahead. You said something about the Space Colony ARK.”

“I did. My latest work has been done there.”

“You mean the last incident?”

“Yes, that was my grandfather’s doing. But I need you to go up there.”

“What do you need?”

“I believe I left a Chaos Emerald there.”

“But Blade said-“

“Yes, Blade did get one of the Emeralds. But Sonic and his friends left a yellow one up in the colony. I need you to use the transporter, sneak up there, and find the Chaos Emerald.”

“Why do I need to sneak?”

“After the last incident, the military knew they couldn’t take any more chances with the colony. They had had too many problems with it to count.”

“So they protected it.”

“Yes”

“Well, I’m on it Doctor. Nack the Weasel has never failed a mission so far.”

“Well, what about-“

“We’ll forget that accident never happened, okay?”

“Yes, Nack. Now go take the transporter.”

“I’m already there.”

Part VII

Sonic awoke again in the jungle. It was dark now. The full moon was just rising. Just overhead, a flock of birds flew by.

Flew.

“Tails!” He couldn’t believe it. He had blown it. He was the last chance they had at saving him and he blew it. He hung his head in disgust and knelt by a tree. Then, ever so silently, he began to cry.

Get yourself together, he thought. Even it you couldn’t save him, you have to try. Get the guys who took him. Find them somehow. You’re Sonic the Hedgehog.

“That’s right,” he muttered. “I AM Sonic the Hedgehog!”

He blazed back to the pyramid. If he could get inside, he could probably find some equipment that would help him find the two kidnappers. But when he got there, and the whirring green split off into sandy gold, he saw Amy and Knuckles still laying there.

“What’s going on?” he yelled.

“Knuckles can’t move,” Amy told him. “I called a helicopter. They should be here any minute.”

“They’ve still got Tails,” Sonic responded, acknowledging the lying Knuckles. “We’ll need to use the copter for more than one thing. But first, I’ll need to get in the pyramid. Eggman should have some equipment I can, er, borrow.”

“You mean¼”

“Hey, Sonic the Hedgehog never steals,” he boasted. “He just borrows stuff.”

He ran inside the pyramid. It was all too familiar to Sonic. Just a few weeks ago, he had been infiltrating it to get to the Space Colony ARK. Don’t think about the ARK, he remembered. If he did, well, he couldn’t risk another nightmare. Not now, at least. When he went in, he was surprised to see that all the torches were out. Without the light, he could barely see his hand in front of him, let alone get some equipment. He couldn’t run, he could not gamble falling. He’d just have to take it steady.

About fifteen minutes later, he figured he was probably less than a quarter of the way there. This was ridiculous. If he could see, he’d have been there at least ten minutes ago. He’d just have to risk it. He picked up into a steady run, but he barely went five yards when an amazing white light pierced his eyes and stretched them to the breaking point. A blazing red missile went his way, but he managed to jump over it.

Now he still couldn’t see in front of him, but not because of darkness. He had to press on. A few more missiles missed. Sonic had to feel around in front of him to move. Finally, he walked right into a blue core. He pressed the core, and the light stopped. Now it was pitch black again. He kept walking around the object when he heard voices.

“Doctor, the machine isn’t working.”

“But that’s odd. I saw it running just seconds ago.”

“Maybe something shut it off.”

Instantly, the Eggman made his assumption.

“Sonic¼”

At least he could see now. But now two of his more deadly foes knew he was right there. Well, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

Sonic braced himself for battle. Nack wielded a shotgun at Sonic. Eggman approached him in his Egg Walker. Even Sonic knew this was going to be a stretch. With two gun toting foes square at him, he’d have to turn on the jets.

The blue hedgehog curled into a ball and flung himself at Nack. Eggman got in the way, though, and took the hit. A Volkan Cannon shot came at Sonic. He jumped over it, but got hit in the foot by the shotgun. Strangely, it wasn’t deadly. It just stung. A lot. He had to hobble around a bit to avoid some of the gunshots. Then, he got the feeling back in his toes and started running again. His leg sweep flipped Nack over, and he followed with a chest stomp. Before Eggman could counter, Sonic picked up Nack by the head and threw him at the walker. As the walker fell backwards, Sonic used his patented Sonic Wind to flip him upwards. To finish the fight, he flipped back on his hands and shot forward, feet first. Eggman and his machine were sent right at a machine. The electricity that ran from it shocked Eggman into a faint.

Sonic ran to one of the computers that hadn’t already been destroyed. Luckily enough, this one told positions like a GPS unit. He typed in a subject-Cyclone Air Jet. Unfortunately, there were other jets in the world with the name Cyclone. At least four, to be exact. Even a supersonic hedgehog like himself couldn’t cover that much ground in time.

He thought about it. Amy could help, but that was about it. Unless Knuckles got healed or they could find Rouge, it may be impossible to find Tails, especially since the criminals were probably on the move. Then, voices came behind him.

“Need some help?”

Rouge stood there with Shadow and two other people behind them.

“I’m Flint,” the brown haired man said, shaking Sonic’s hand. “This is Naomi. I suppose you’ve met Rouge and Shadow before.”

Sonic just smiled.

“Okay. There’s four positions on this map. One is at a beach near the coast of the U.S. called Spinner Beach. The others are in Antarctica, Africa, and back at Capital City. I’m going to handle anything at the beach. Amy, you can come with me. Shadow and Rouge, head to Africa. Flint and Naomi, you go to Antarctica. But that leaves one spot left.”

“Sin City, here I come!”

Knuckles was standing there with his fists clenched.

“Knuckles! But what about your-“ Amy began.

The wily echidna held out a red Chaos Emerald. “Found this on the way here. Forgot I had it. Fixed me up quick.”

“You’ll be able to take care of that yourself, right?”

“You bet. Let’s get a move on!”

“Right. The sooner we leave, the better chance we have of finding Tails. Let’s split up!”

The group put their hands together and threw them in the air. Then they set off in search of Tails-and a new adventure.