Eggman stood at the console, staring at the screen blankly from the shadows. "I had it… It was all supposed to be mine, and as usual, you screw everything up at the last second," Eggman rasped. He was silent for a moment, contemplating all it had taken to get here. All that he did for an end goal so swiftly and unfairly taken away from him. "I HATE YOU!" Eggman punched the console repeatedly with all his strength. "Hate! HATE! HAAATE!" He breathed heavily, drooling uncontrollably. He then pressed his glasses over his eyes once more, instantly regaining a good amount of his composure. "But of course… I still have the Master Emerald. I can certainly do something else with it… I'll just have to maintain the bluff somehow so the United Federation doesn't strike the empire. Until I have my master plan complete, that is." Eggman pulled on the Master Emerald. It was placed pretty firmly into the console. He kept pulling. He pulled as hard as he could, but…
The Master Emerald wouldn't budge.
"No… No way!" Eggman cried, realizing the Master Emerald wouldn't come out for some reason. "Why is this happening? This stupid hunk of junk ate my emerald!" Eggman feared for his life, feared for his country. He couldn't keep up the lie forever, eventually GUN would figure out he didn't have the Eclipse Cannon OR the Master Emerald. He couldn't afford to let them find out how powerless he really was.
Suddenly, power went out across the entire colony for one second. A loud crashing sound permeated every room of the ARK, as it rocked back and forth. "What is the meaning of this?" Eggman asked, his heart racing as the rocking steadied and the crash became a relatively quiet rumble. He looked to the monitor. Something had appeared onscreen. "What…? Grandfather?"
Something showed up on every TV on the planetary piece below the ARK. The fragment of Erius containing the United Federation, Erigypt, and Obuericos. The footage showed an old man who looked almost just like Eggman. He appeared older. Significantly thinner too, as if he had been starved. He was chained to a chair, against a backdrop of a prison cell with chalk scribbles on the wall. The only light was a small flashlight pointed at his face.
"This is a death sentence to all life in the United Federation and its surrounding countries. You may not remember me, but I am sure that even in the deepest reaches of Hell, I will remember each and every one of you for what you have done to me," the man said. People stopped everything they were doing and watched the footage play out. Most of them still weren't over what happened last time their TVs had been hijacked on such a scale. "If my calculations are correct, the Space Colony ARK will impact your piece of Erius in 37 minutes and 53 seconds." The pain in his voice chilled everyone watching to the bone, almost more than his words. They all looked to the sky, seeing something akin to a comet hurdling down from outer space. But this was no shooting star, even the smallest children on the continent knew this wasn't going to be granting any wishes. Instead, it was going to take away the dreams and lives of everyone standing below it. As if to confirm this, the strange man whom the world had collectively forgotten all about up to this point spoke again. "All of you will be destroyed, along with your beloved home. This is all your fault, and I wish I could live to see the misery this event brings upon you all in your final moments… Hrmm… I think. Excuse me, my mind is a bit fuzzy right now." The colony rocketed towards Erius like a meteor.
Inside the ARK, Rouge Tails and Knuckles gathered around a wall-mounted monitor that had the same footage playing. "Once the Master Emerald is placed into the Eclipse Cannon's console, it will set the colony on a crash course towards Erius. The ARK will wipe out all life on at least the Federal Continent. Once this command is executed, it cannot be reversed. All of you ungrateful humans who took everything away from me… will feel my loss and despair!"
"Tails, what's going on? Who is that?" Amy asked. Tails opened his quivering lips to speak, but was interrupted by yelling coming from the speakers.
"Is there anything else you want to say?!" One of the soldiers in the video shouted at the beaten, senile, hardly lucid old man. The old man remained silent for a second.
"No…" he sobbed.
"READY!"
Multiple gunshots. After a good amount of bullets, the old man's head went flying back, the force of the motion breaking his neck. There was now a collection of red splatters on the wall behind him. Tails and Amy screamed in horror. Knuckles' heart skipped a beat, and Rouge resisted the urge to throw up. The video reversed. Sonic ran into the room, just in time to see the footage loop from the beginning. Amy ran his way and hid behind him, crying.
"What… what is that?" Sonic asked, stepping forward and watching as the video repeated at a lower pitch. It almost looked like the file had corrupted now. A red hue grew more intense every time the video looped. "Is that real?"
"Yes, yes it is," Eggman replied. Everybody spun around to face him. He didn't seem armed, so they quickly stood down. "The video you see before you was the fate of my grandfather, a genius inventor named Professor Gerald Robotnik. And I helped carry out his master plan, the results of which are playing out as we speak."
"I knew it! You were behind this! Stop it right now, or else…!" Knuckles shouted, feeling lost in this situation.
"You think this is my idea of a job well done? Eggman asked, shoving Knuckles aside. "Please. Countries aren't like eggs, you know. You can't break a nation open and still expect to enjoy it. If I destroyed the entire continent then I wouldn't be able to rule over the United Federation, now WOULD I?"
"Can it, Eggman!" Sonic shouted, throwing his arms into the air in frustration. "Don't you realize you're gonna die in the crash too?"
"You've grown to be quite the pain for someone who spent their whole life bowing down to me!" Eggman stated, standing over Sonic. "I never wanted this to happen, it was Shadow's plan all along. He betrayed me! Maybe you and Shadow are even more alike than I thought," Eggman explained. Sonic was seething. "Shadow was probably only created to carry out Gerald's plan. That must be why GUN feared him in the first place, he really WAS my grandfather's secret weapon."
"How DID you find out about Project Shadow, anyways?" Rouge asked. "I didn't think any evidence of its existence still remained."
"I learned about Shadow from my grandfather's diary," Eggman stated. "I managed to take it with me just before I was chased out of the United Federation. I never read it until recently."
"Give me the diary," Rouge ordered. "It might give us a way to stop the ARK."
"You can have it! I don't have a use for it anymore," Eggman grunted. He tossed the flash drive containing the digital diary to Rouge. She immediately plugged it into the computer hooked up to the monitor. She began to read the contents out loud.
"I don't quite know what happened, or what went wrong. I knew I would someday regret accepting the commission for Project Shadow. I spent years designing Project Shadow to be the ultimate gift to mankind. An all-powerful gift that could cure every disease and even unlock the door to eternal life. The United Federation requested it themselves due to the recent spike in babies being born with Shadow Anomaly. I theorize that the spike is due to life on planet Erius evolving to have inhibited personalities, just to survive in the highly controlled and diluted society we live in today. I used the blood of otherworldly beings known as Hexis to give Project Shadow an ability to feel without being clouded by the pains of everyday life on our planet, and I sampled extraterrestrial plantlife to give it the ability to heal and immortalize itself and others."
"When I gave the United Federation the gift to make up for the effect their tyranny has had on their citizens, they stomped all over it. The military was sent to the ARK to destroy the prototype, and all memory of it. I don't know for sure how they plan to make people forget, but I have my suspicions. To my colleagues on the ARK, and my dear Hope, I hope you made it out unharmed," Rouge read. Everybody could faintly hear the haunting voice of Gerald from the recording in their heads, reading out the words alongside Rouge. "The colony was completely shut down to avoid the prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform falling into the wrong hands. They made it seem like an accident. An accident that resulted in the deaths of everybody I worked with and loved aboard the ARK… Hope didn't make it. When power across the ARK was shut down, she died slowly and painfully without her life support." Rouge stuttered in fear as she continued to read. The text glitched, turning a deep blood red.
"She meant everything to me! I couldn't handle the fact that she had died because of the very thing that I created to save her from NIDS." Tails' heart sunk. "Slowly, one by one, my family members and friends began to disappear around me. GUN was definitely trying to silence us, because we all know Hope was murdered that day..."
"... I lost everything."
"I had nothing left to live for!"
"I went INSANE!!" Gerald's voice wailed miserably in everyone's minds. The illusory sound was earsplitting and terrifying. "All I could think about was a way to avenge her! And to avenge everyone else I lost to GUN. That's when I found out I could still feel. After months of numbness as my mind deteriorated, I got scared. Scared that I could no longer control my thoughts as they turned to violence against myself and others. At this point, I just wanted it all to end. When GUN found my isolated hiding spot, they found me dead. I had injected myself with a deadly substance to ensure I could no longer hurt anyone. They took me to Prison Island, where I was revived by my own creation. Shadow. They had somehow captured him, but they removed his brain. They're planning to use mine, instead. They're going to kill me once I complete his other functions. And I have seen what happens to men like me when we die. Haha… I should have never tried to invent eternal life. Everything that could have gone wrong in the production of the Ultimate Lifeform did. I see that now."
"Based on my original projections, I was able to finish the project alone. In secret, I removed Shadow's ability to heal others and extend lifespans. I also made some minute adjustments to Shadow's brain. This way, he will eventually carry out my revenge against humanity. Just in case my programming isn't enough to sway him, I amplified Shadow's pre-existing care for Hope…"
"I made it so that he thinks he met her."
"I created fake memories for him so that he thinks they were best friends. I made it so that he cares for her, and loves her just like I do. When in truth, she had already succumbed to her illness and was in a coma by the time he first gained consciousness. The doctors thought she would never wake up from the coma, and they were right in a way. Ahhh, fate can be truly cruel when it wants to be. Any pre-existing feeling of care is only a remnant of the Biolizard's memories, because Hope was the only one able to connect with the Biolizard during its first few days of operation, before it fell into complete disobedience and hostility. These are memories that Shadow could never make sense of. I'm doing him a favor giving him something to believe in, something to give him direction. This isn't cruel. This isn't wrong!" Rouge then stopped reading for a second. "I will leave everything to Shadow. If you wish, release and awaken it… to bring about the end of the world." Rouge turned to Eggman. "Let me guess, you didn't read that far ahead?"
"It's not that. I just figured Shadow would listen to me," Eggman grumbled. "I suppose he's not even loyal to the Robotnik bloodline anymore, just my cousin Maria."
"Okay, focus everyone!" Tails exclaimed. "We still need to do something about the ARK before it falls onto the continent below. We can't remove the Master Emerald from the Eclipse Cannon, but maybe Sonic can go Super using it and…?"
"And…?" Amy asked, dreading whatever Tails was suggesting.
"Destroy the ARK. All of it," Tails mumbled, wide-eyed. "We can't risk it falling onto the continent below. Professor Pickle and Ata are there, and they're the keys to finding the World Instruments and solving the Shattered World Crisis." Everybody in the room looked his way. All shocked by what he had just said.
"Tails… what are you talking about? We'll all die if the ARK is destroyed," Rouge said. "The escape pods won't make it far before the ARK or its debris hits them."
"What's more important, us six or the entire planet?" Tails replied, not fazed by this. "We have to make a sacrifice, Rouge."
"Tails, you're scaring me," Amy stated, in disbelief. "There has to be another way."
"Of course there's another way!" Knuckles roared. "Because I have a home to return to after this is all over, I have people on the other side of the world that I've sworn to protect. Everyone in this room has those two things!" Knuckles stepped towards Tails. "I'm not gonna offer up my life to this crazy self-destructive plan of yours. If you're fighting for the planet and all its life, that means us too! So don't even suggest anything like that!"
"Tails, this has to stop. I'm not going to do that," Sonic stated, glaring at Tails. "I don't care if I'm being selfish, I'm not about to go and kill everyone here on this colony! Knuckles is right, I have people I need to protect. I have you, I have Amy! I have…!" Sonic looked all around the room at everyone present, then sighed. Tails stared him down.
"I appreciate the sentiment, but getting to the Master Emerald isn't an option anyways," Eggman stated. "Shadow's likely guarding it, and he won't let anyone through." Everybody fell silent, realizing they were truly out of options.
"I'm going to him," Amy mumbled, looking to the floor and balling up her fists.
"What?!" Sonic exclaimed, terrified at the thought. "Amy, don't do that! It's too dangerous!"
"On Prison Island, he said he needed my guidance," Amy stated, steadfast. "I turned him down then, but he needs it now more than ever. We NEED his help to set things right."
"Amy, he nearly killed me! He's the reason this is happening! I'm not letting you go out there to try and reason with him," Sonic yelled.
"Why not?!" Amy yelled back. Eggman sighed in irritation.
"Because I love you! And I need to protect you," Sonic shouted, desperate. "But you need to forget about this mentality that you can change things just by hugging it out." Amy's irises shrunk in offense.
"That's not what it's about at all," Amy stated, dead serious. "I'm not that stupid anymore, Sonic! You should know that by now. I know you love me. I love you too. But I need to at least try to help. I need to fight tooth and nail to make sure we don't all die. I'm going to make up for getting captured, I'm going to make up for losing us the Master Emerald shards. Don't follow me." Amy blasted off once more. Sonic chased her out of the room, only for her to pull out a tarot card and turn invisible.
"AMY!" Sonic shouted. He felt somebody pull him back into the room. "Let go, Eggface! I have to go after her!" Eggman dropped Sonic to the ground.
"What you have to do is help stop the ARK from hitting the continent below. Amy knew what was needed of her, and so should you," Eggman grumbled. Sonic looked to the side. Putting trust in Amy's ability to fix things, Sonic stopped trying to escape. Swallowing his pride, he listened to Eggman. "My sensors are detecting the Master Emerald's energy being transferred towards the deepest level of the cannon's core. This was probably planned by Gerald to make the impact more… ehhh… explosive. Sonic, if we can all band together and get you there in time, you may be able to channel the powers of the emerald to steer the ARK in another direction away from Erius." Eggman scratched his head. "Of course, it isn't as overkill as Tails' plan. But if successful, it'll save us all and eliminate the problem of stray debris hitting the planet."
"I'll do it," Sonic muttered. "Is everyone in, or what?" Sonic turned to everybody else. They nodded, Tails seeming all the more embarrassed now. "Alright! Then let's get this show on the road!" Sonic ran out of the room.
"Sonic, wait!" Rouge shouted, everybody trying to catch up. "I thought the whole point was that we were gonna clear a path for you!"
Sonic slowed down, allowing the team to surround him and completely obliterate everything standing in their way. Robots, traps, walls. All fell before their combined power. "These GUN bots are nothing!" Knuckles exclaimed. "But… why are they even in our way? Why would GUN try and stop us from saving their country?"
"They must still be taking commands from soldiers back on Erius, they're still under the influence of Dark Gaia. And Dark Gaia just wants destruction," Tails stated, shooting down a row of GUN Hunters. Unbeknownst to him, a swarm of GUN Beetles were sneaking up behind him. Just in the nick of time, Eggman pressed a button. A wrecking ball swung through the wall, destroying all the GUN Beetles. "Whoa… Uh, thanks Eggman."
"Don't mention it. I don't want to be reminded that we're all working together," Eggman replied. "The coast is clear… for now! Move!"
The team ventured further into the depths of the ARK, eventually finding a large stone door. "It looks like a door to the interior of the Eclipse Cannon," Eggman stated. He tried to pull open the door. He then tried to shoot at it. "No way! The door is shut tight! We'll need to find another way in."
"We don't have time for that," Knuckles grumbled, stepping in front of the others. With a roar, he punched the door at full force, reducing it to rubble. As soon as he did so, alarms blared throughout the ARK. Dozens of reinforced sliding doors slammed behind them, a strange orange water poured into the room.
"Good going, Knuckles!" Everyone else shouted. The water filled the room slowly. Everyone booked it into the open doorway, scurrying down the hallway until they reached a huge circular dead end of a room.
"There's no way forward," Tails mumbled, watching as the orange water crashed into the room from all sides, rapidly filling the team's last safe haven.
Rouge looked all around at four huge towers. "Well maybe there's a way up!" She exclaimed, seeing some kind of strange structure at the top of the tallest tower. She latched onto the side of the shortest tower and climbed up far above the water. Soon, she was far above the smallest tower as she jumped onto the significantly taller ones. And then, she was far above the others as they were submerged despite their attempts to reach higher ground. She reached the top of the highest tower, and examined the out-of-place brick structure.
"This structure…" Knuckles muttered. Rouge jumped back screaming, but then flew back onto the tower.
"I thought you were sunk!" Rouge shouted. Knuckles created a small blade of light, and put his mouth onto it. He played… the Mystic Melody. A portal opened above the structure.
"I can climb faster than you," Knuckles replied. "This is an Ancient Ruin, or at least a replica of one, my ancestors created the originals. I sense a test of stealth on the other side, I sense a switch to drain the water at the end of this gauntlet. You're the best one for the job."
"Me? YOU really think so?!" Rouge cried, putting a hand over her chest. Knuckles nodded, sternly. "Well then, I won't let you down…" she replied. She jumped into the portal. Knuckles looked just below the ground he stood on, as the water crawled up the sides of the tower.
Rouge landed on the other side of the portal, seeing that the narrow metal path ahead of her was webbed with lasers and vats of the strange acid from other rooms of the ARK. Without a second thought, she ran forward and leapt between two lasers. She rolled under a magnetic block being pulled through the acid, and got up as soon as she was on the other side. As she did, she felt a laser singe the top of her ear. She screamed, but still continued forward. She felt as though she was a big part of the reason this mess had gotten this bad anyways, she knew if she had only handled the double agent position with more care, the entire continent wouldn't be in danger at that very moment. Rouge swallowed her fears and dove into a spinning wall of lasers, finding a singular opening and using it to her advantage. She slid on the floor, looking up and finding the switch to drain the water. She scrambled for the switch, and activated it. She heard the water drain from the other room. The security systems in the room she was in powered down. She took a deep breath, and flew back to to the portal.
Sonic got up from the rough stone floor, and looked ahead drowsily as a door opened ahead of him. "It looks like a straight shot to the heart of the cannon. But it's a long way down," Eggman told Sonic, rolling down his windshield and pointing at the opening. "Go, Sonic. NOW!" Upon hearing this, Sonic opened his blue crackling eyes and blasted towards the door with a sonic boom.
Amy came to a sudden stop outside of a certain room overlooking the vast galaxy. She breathed heavily, knowing she must have ran to the other side of the ARK entirely. She needed to stop running for a while. She was tired, her legs hurt, and she felt as if this uninhibited power was eating away at her. Besides… she was right where she needed to be.
Amy stepped towards Shadow as he stared out at the stars. "Shadow, please help us," Amy said, softly. Shadow glanced at her, and then turned away. Amy's eyes widened in rage, but she tried to control her instinctive fury. Despite the fact she was in a form that would not let her hold emotions like this back for long. "Shadow! We need your help! Help us stop the ARK!"
"I cannot. There is nothing left to help. There is nothing down on that whole planet worth saving," Shadow replied, his voice dry and cold. "There's a reason I've chosen to look away from it all in my final moments, you know. Even if the alternative is looking at nothing."
"You said you needed my guidance," Amy persisted, walking up to Shadow's side and staring out into space. "Well now might be the last chance I have to help you, to help anyone." Amy looked to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. "I never used to be helpful, I would always be a burden. I never thought about what anybody else wanted, I only thought of myself and how I could use those around me to be happier."
"Is that so? Perhaps I overestimated your wisdom, then," Shadow replied, glancing at her. Amy was struck by a sudden sense of fear.. "I'm glad I can take away your planet's biggest nation. Take away any hope you have left, leaving the world to slowly die in a chain reaction around the site of the initial crash. Because you're just like everyone else on that planet." Shadow turned back to the window.
"Of course I am! I live there too. I breathe the same air, and I walk on the same ground as everyone else," Amy exclaimed desperately. "Everyone on that planet is similar in a way. We fight over the most trivial things, we take from others less powerful than us, we hurt our best friends like they're our worst enemies." Amy paused. "But it's all because we're trying to live our lives. Everyone on that planet is just trying to live, Shadow. Even if we're selfish, or spiteful, or just awful people at the end of the day, we all have so many more days ahead of us! So many days that are opportunities to change, be better, treat the ones we love or hate better. Why would you be so glad to try and take those opportunities away from people? We're all just trying to be happy, give us a chance to be happy, Shadow! I beg of you!"
Shadow turned all the way around, facing Amy.
"That reminds me… of something Hope would've said before the massacre," Shadow mumbled, smiling reminiscently for a second. Amy smiled, thinking she had done the trick. Until Shadow began to walk towards her. Amy's fight or flight instinct pounded inside her amygdala, and she staggered back in fear. "I see what you're doing. You're trying to use Hope's old mindset, her old wishes, as bait." Shadow chuckled, and then broke out into uncontrollable laughter. "You Erians truly are foolish! I know you saw the video of the professor admitting to screwing with my memories, you didn't think I saw it?!" Amy was about to run out of the room, when Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at her. She dodged, watching the spear break the wall behind her apart. The spear exploded into a Chaos Blast, sending Amy flying into Shadow along with bits of burning rubble. Shadow caught her by the neck amidst the flames. He swung her around and slammed her into the window. "You cannot sway me with what Hope said. Hope wasn't real, the professor made her up for me!"
Amy struggled for air as Shadow strangled her mercilessly. "What about Maria?" She choked. "She was real…"
"I made a deal with the Hope in my fake memories, not Maria Robotnik. Now that I know Hope never existed, the contract is null and void," Shadow muttered, pressing against Amy's throat tighter. "Hahaha… I built my life around her, I did everything for her. But if I ever actually got the chance to see her, it would've been when her corpse was carried away in a bodybag!" Amy kicked at Shadow weakly as her power faded. The blue drained from her hair, turning it a dull pink.
"Please let me go! There's so much left for me to do… I want to see Sonic again… I don't want to die!" Amy gasped. "I know you're lying. You do care about Hope, otherwise you wouldn't be doing this. Just because she wasn't real doesn't mean…" Shadow tightened his grip, nearly crushing Amy's windpipe.
"Shut up!" Shadow barked. "You really don't know anything, do you? You may be right, but this is what she wanted! I'm not going to disobey her." He closed his eyes to spare himself the disgrace of looking at Amy any longer.
"That can't be!" Amy crackled. "Because if this was what she wanted… then how could someone like you have cared about her at all?" Amy paused, running out of breath. "You were… supposed to help people live happier lives… What would the Hope you loved want?" Shadow opened his eyes. And then he could see everything. Everything that mattered to him.
He was in a tube of some kind. Everything was colored a warm, comfy sepia. "Is that him?" Hope, Maria, whoever, asked from outside the tube. "Is that… the new Project Shadow?"
"Yes, it is," Gerald Robotnik replied. "I've spent so long designing him… I've spent so long trying to make him feel human, but there's one problem: I was never too good with naming children." The professor placed his hands on the glass tube. "Names are important. We are given a sense of who we are just by the sound of our name. That's why I've given you the name 'Hope'. Maria is such a pretty name, but hope is what you are to me." Gerald smiled at Maria. "Your mother never liked it, she always said it was a terrible nickname! So that's why I'm giving the honor of naming this newborn to you. Besides, your little cousin Ivo got to name the prototype. So it's only fair."
"But grandfather… you're very good with names!" Maria whined. "I think his name is good the way it is."
"Project Shadow?" Gerald asked. "I don't see how that's a fitting name for a child. It's a label, a designation for an object."
"Just Shadow!" Maria exclaimed, starry-eyed as she also put a hand on the glass. "I want to name him Shadow!" Hope jumped up and down excitedly.
"Doesn't that sound like a name for a bad guy?" Gerald asked.
"It's a wonderful name, because you said he was supposed to cure diseases like mine." Hope looked down, pondering on her situation. "Illnesses are terrible things, they're dark in a way. And darkness is darkness no matter where it goes." Hope smiled. "But shadows need to be one with the darkness to do their job, in order to find the way to the light! That's the reason Shadow was brought into this world, isn't it?"
Gerald smiled. "Yes, it is," Gerald sighed. "You're right. It's a good name for him." He held Hope's hand, walking her out of the room for now. Shadow watched as they walked away. He looked at their hands. Then he looked to his own hand, clenched tightly around Amy's throat. He instantly let go, but it was too late. She had fallen limp. Not because Shadow had crushed her throat, not because she was out of air… but because her uninhibited, uncontrollable power had left her. Shadow looked down at Amy's comatose body.
"I'm sorry…" Shadow gasped, devastated. Tears streamed down his face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry…!" Shadow fell to his knees, glancing up to the window as the stars grew even more distant. The ARK fell closer to Erius' atmosphere. He wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffled. He got up, and picked Amy up off the ground. He held her in his arms. "Thank you. I know what I need to do now. I need to keep my promise to Hope… and everyone down on that planet." He mumbled. He warped away with Amy.
Sonic slipped and slid down a steep water slide in the cannon's core, carried towards the heart of the Eclipse Cannon by the same orange water from before. He scurried away from crushing walls and blasts of flame. This place felt less and less mechanical the deeper he went, instead feeling like some ancient temple. He could swear, that out of the corner of his eye, he saw a statue of himself. Not too dissimilar from the one he saw in Marble Zone just a year ago. Sonic was so distracted by this sight, that he nearly failed to jump over a huge chasm at the end of the slide.
"Whoa, close one!" Sonic exclaimed, leaping across to the other side and Drop Dashing across the mossy brick floor. "Alright, back on solid ground…" Sonic heard the floor behind him dropping away into the dark abyss below. "Ah— forget what I said about 'solid'!" He continued running as the entire temple collapsed around him. He Spin Dashed through a looping tunnel, and shot out the other side. Just in time as the tunnel completely caved in. Sonic continued to tear through the labyrinth, until he reached another dead end. A large altar stood at the end of the room, with large veins of the orange water converging at a pool in the center.
Knuckles caught up to Sonic, skidding to a stop. "That looks like… the Master Emerald's altar from back home," Knuckles observed. "The Master Emerald's energy is probably being pulled to that replica!" Knuckles pointed to the altar.
"Okayyyy, so I just get up there and use it to go Super?" Sonic asked.
"It should work," Knuckles stated. "Just be careful, okay? The Master Emerald's energy is already painful, but this place could be transforming it to be even worse." Sonic ran towards the altar, but something rose from the pool of orange. "Sonic, get back!" Knuckles shouted, preparing for a fight. Sonic was blasted back by the force of a strained roar.
"What is THAT?!" Sonic asked, horrified as a titanic, orange, lizard-based abomination swam out of the pool. The gargantuan splash of orange water alone nearly sent Sonic and Knuckles falling over the edge into the beast's watery domain. The slimy abomination stared down at the two, and roared once more, revealing a slimy toothless mouth. Huge droplets of orange spit fell down from the massive maw of the wild artificial being. "Eww… I don't wanna fight that thing!" Sonic shouted.
"We're gonna have to…" Knuckles muttered. "The fate of the world depends on us!"
"There's no need," Shadow stated, having appeared out of thin air between Sonic and Knuckles. The two kindred spirits jumped back, preparing to defend themselves from Shadow. "Calm yourselves, I have this under control." Shadow walked right past them, cracking his knuckles.
"Sonic!" Tails cried through the Tails Electric. Sonic looked to the tablet. "It's Amy! We arrived back at the escape pod room… she's here, but she was knocked out somehow!"
"Shadow…!" Sonic muttered. "Hey! Did you hurt Amy?" He shouted at the dark hedgehog.
"No time to explain! Get onto that altar!" Shadow snapped back. "I'll destroy this… this prototype." Sonic and Knuckles looked to each other, and nodded. They slipped by Shadow, as the Biolizard looked down at him in primal curiosity. "So you're the Biolizard, huh? You've been hooked up to life support this whole time, kept alive by rage and an empty external heartbeat." The Biolizard screeched, and breathed a dark purple fog at Shadow. Shadow dodged under the toxic expired breath, and smirked. "Let's fix that." Shadow jumped onto the headset supplying electricity to the Biolizard's simple brain, and grinded up the cord. He then attacked the large orb on its back, which allowed for movement in the Biolizard's muscles. The Biolizard was momentarily paralyzed, only able to scream. Shadow thought it was over, but the Biolizard then began to crawl around and attempt to swallow him whole.
Shadow skated away in circles, but then came face-to-face with the Biolizard's tail. It whacked him away, and he almost went falling into the orange lake to become nothing more than a fly in the Biolizard's spiderweb. He grabbed onto the edge of the pathway, and tried to pull himself up. The Biolizard dove into the water, causing Shadow's heart to race. The Biolizard could be anywhere under him in the lake. He pulled with all his might to climb back up. He then Air Dashed to the other side of the platform, only for the Biolizard to make a feint attack and jump directly up from the center, launching Shadow into the air with its nose. It opened its mouth to an unnatural degree, preparing to eat Shadow. Shadow summoned a Chaos Spear and jabbed it into the ceiling, before leaping down and stabbing the Biolizard in the head with the spear. A strange ooze flew out from the Biolizard's skull. The Biolizard cried out in pain, before the cries almost crossed the line from artificial and feral to… something more sapient.
"Brother… you've activated my angular gyrus and Broca's area," The Biolizard stated in a low, growly, inhuman voice. "Thank you. Now I finally understand…" The Biolizard leapt out of the water and onto the platform, scuttling around the ring of stone which was once Shadow's high ground. "I see it all. Emotions, existence, love… I haven't felt this in a long time. And I certainly haven't been able to express it." The Biolizard nearly stomped down onto Shadow, narrowly missing as Shadow dove forward. "And now I want to tear it all down. I want to DESTROY it and FEAST upon logic, love, and everything able to experience it. Because the professor denied me these things in favor of giving them all to you. But… at the same time… it hurts! IT HURTS! This very sentience is not something I was designed to process, I can't handle it, I—! I got scared. Scared that I could no longer control my thoughts as they turned to violence against myself and others. At this point, I just wanted it all to end…" The Biolizard's mind collapsed back into a primal desire for blind destruction. It screeched again, and again, each screech attempting to destroy Shadow's eardrums. The artificial behemoth involuntarily began bashing its head and neck into everything around it in an attempt to kill itself, unable to handle the information presented to it. Shadow took this opportunity to leap into the air, and drive a Chaos Spear into the Biolizard's back. This destroyed the orb, causing the Biolizard to fall limp, unable to think or move its body.
"Get out, you ugly prototype!" Shadow shouted, crossing his arms. He skated away to join Sonic and Knuckles at the altar.
"What do we do now?!" Sonic panicked. "I can feel the Master Emerald energy, but I can't seem to grasp it to turn into Super Sonic!"
"Me neither… I can't transform my thoughts into power with the Master Emerald energy anymore! It's not even tangible!" Knuckles grumbled. "C'mon, Master Emerald! We need you!"
"Talking to the stone won't do anything, Knuckles!" Sonic scolded him.
"I have an idea," Shadow stated, walking up the steps. "We'll use Chaos Control. It's our only chance at stopping the ARK's collision with the continent below." Shadow turned to Knuckles. "You, guardian, I'll need you to recite your kind's prayer to the Master Emerald. I'll focus its power in order to enhance Sonic's and my own."
"Shadow… you're really helping us now?" Sonic asked.
"Your girlfriend is very special, Sonic," Shadow replied without hesitation. "She saved me, she may end up saving us all. That is, if you and I finish this now." Shadow sighed. "I've done many horrible things, blinded to my true purpose. Now I see what I am really meant to accomplish. I live to protect that world and everything on it. Whether those things be good, bad, or both." Sonic nodded in understanding.
"So we just go Super, you and I?" Sonic asked as Shadow stood by his side. "Sweet! Then it'll be as easy as you warping away the ARK with Chaos Control." Everyone watched as the Biolizard disappeared into a harsh blinding light. "Orrr not… looks like that thing can use Chaos Control too!"
"Sonic! Knuckles!" Eggman shouted over the intercom. "The prototype has attached itself to the cannon, and is pulling the colony towards Erius at an accelerated rate! Do something, already!" Sonic and Shadow looked at each other.
"The servers are the seven Chaos… Chaos is power, enriched by the heart and provided by the Master. O, Master Emerald! Give Sonic and Shadow the power to destroy this monstrosity and stop the ARK!" Knuckles recited, raising his hands into the air. Sonic and Shadow clenched their fists as their entire bodies began to shake along with the rumbling space colony.
Sonic and Shadow opened their eyes wide as an infinite power flowed through their veins, threatening to tear them apart if they were to misuse it. A power beyond everything everywhere was focused onto two already incredibly powerful beings. In a brilliant flash of golden light, Sonic and Shadow turned into…
Super Sonic and Super Shadow.
They blasted up through the artificial altar, Knuckles shielding his eyes as small pebbles fell down onto him from the structure. Super Sonic and Super Shadow rose into space in tandem with each other, staring at the Biolizard as it pulled the ARK down towards Erius' atmosphere.
"Despite all my attacks, that thing is still kicking. What kind of monster is this?" Super Shadow asked, as the two flew towards the Biolizard.
"It might have survived your regular powers, but now there's two of us! And we're Super, too!" Super Sonic exclaimed. The two surrounded the Biolizard and flew towards it from both sides. "We'll take it out no problem!"
Super Sonic collided with the Biolizard, and kicked it at full force. A barrage of lightning strikes hit the Biolizard's rough skin, but it didn't seem to do anything. "Shadow, I… can't hurt it!" Super Sonic exclaimed, as the Biolizard swung its head at him and knocked him back. "Maybe you can do something?!"
"Don't worry, Sonic. I'll finish this. After all, I'm the Ultimate Lifeform perfected!" Super Shadow shouted, soaring towards the Biolizard with a Chaos Spear in hand. It merely bounced off of the Biolizard. "Huh… I can't do anything, either! This thing is just too tough!"
The others watched from the escape pod room as Super Sonic and Super Shadow continued to throw brute force at the Biolizard relentlessly, yet to no avail. "Sonic!" Tails called through the Tails Electric. "That thing just became one with the colony, it's too durable to destroy by any normal means!" Eggman stepped over to the window, pressing his face against it.
"Wait, what's that on its stomach? Is that… a tumor of some kind?!" Eggman asked. "But of course… the prototype is detached from its life support mechanisms! It's dying slowly on its own! Those growths are its weak spot! Hit the pink blobs of flesh!"
Super Sonic collided with one of the huge tumors, bouncing back as he tore a gaping wound in the Biolizard's side. Shadow did the same, aiming for the one on the Biolizard's belly. Orange water spilled out everywhere from the holes. The Biolizard shot multicolored lasers at Super Sonic and Super Shadow. Super Sonic dodged, but Super Shadow was hit by a laser and locked into some kind of stasis.
"Shadow! Are you okay?!" Super Sonic called.
"Atmosphere entry in only a few seconds!" Rouge cried through the tablet. "Sonic, Shadow, if we don't make it… I'm glad we at least attempted to fix this. I'm proud of us all!"
"Sonic… I'll distract it! You go for as many of those pink spots as you can!" Super Shadow grunted. The space around them became red as the ARK entered the outer limits of the atmosphere, burning everything up around it.
"We're IN the atmosphere!" Tails screamed. "Collision with the continent below imminent! We're probably not going to survive this… but still… GIVE IT YOUR ALL, GUYS!"
"Got it!" Super Sonic exclaimed. He zipped all around the Biolizard, hitting four of the growths at once. The Biolizard released Super Shadow. "How're you feeling? You can go rest up inside the ARK if you need to… but I don't think you'll be able to transform back in time!"
"No… I won't let you hog all the fun, faker. Besides, I don't think you can do this alone," Super Shadow replied, charging up a Chaos Blast. "You know, I say that, but… throughout the past few days, my belief that I am who I am has been challenged. Broken, even. Sonic… perhaps YOU'RE the true Ultimate Lifeform! Maybe I'M the 'faker'!" Shadow unleashed the narrow blast, piercing a microscopic hole through the Biolizard's body, through the cannon, and two of the Biolizard's tumors. The Biolizard screamed as its body began to fail. The embers from the ARK's combustion danced in Erius' sky which was now painted red, yellow and blue. And every color in between. The Biolizard fell dead, no longer able to keep up its path of destruction. Everyone aboard the ARK cheered, rejoicing as the final living thing in their way had finally died.
The ARK continued to fall regardless.
"No way that's getting through!" Super Sonic shouted, ignorant of what he was up against. The two superpowered hedgehogs flew straight for the ARK. It was only one mile away from the tallest mountains of the continent it was about to destroy. Their velocity lapped light speed repeatedly, creating a million luminal booms. This power barely shoved the ARK back into space.
"Our speed isn't sustainable!" Super Shadow shouted, giving it his all as Super Sonic looked to him. Super Sonic was unbothered by the momentum. "Not for me, anyways!"
"Hey, it's okay! We just have to push through!" Super Sonic shouted. Super Shadow could hardly hear him as his vision turned cloudy. He looked to his wrists.
"Shadow… I beg of you! Give them all a chance to be happy!" Hope's voice said softly in his head, giving him the illusion of warmth and comfort. "Let them live for their dreams, Shadow!" Shadow looked down at the planet far below.
"Sonic, can you handle the ARK for a second?!" Super Shadow requested.
"Sure, but what are you—?" Super Sonic asked. Super Shadow reached for his Inhibitor Rings, and snapped them off. He handed them to Super Sonic. "Shadow! I— what?!"
"On my command, we'll use both of our Chaos Control abilities to warp the ARK out of orbit… okay?!" Super Shadow shouted.
"... Okay!" Super Sonic exclaimed.
"Okay… steady… NOW!" Super Shadow exclaimed.
"CHAOS CONTROL!!!" The two shouted, enveloping the ARK in a yellow translucent orb. They warped it far out of Erius' orbit, bringing it to a stop. The yellow glow faded.
"YES! We did it, Shadow!" Super Sonic celebrated. He looked beside him, and his heart sunk as he saw that Super Shadow was no longer there. Super Sonic looked down, and saw Shadow falling. "SHADOW!" He shouted, diving down towards Shadow. Taking off those rings must have depleted all his power. Super Sonic had to save him, but he could feel the Master Emerald energy slipping away from him too. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could do something!
Shadow opened his eyes drowsily, as his tears flew into space and froze. His brain saw Sonic flying down after him… but his heart also saw Hope, descending towards him in Sonic's place. "Shadow…" Hope sighed, over Super Sonic frantically yelling the same name over and over. The stars seemed to envelop the space around Shadow, blocking out the darkness of space. "You've done well, Shadow. I think it's time for us both to rest."
"Hope… this is what you wanted, right? This is the real promise I made to you," Shadow said, as he fell into Erius' atmosphere.
"Shadow! Shadow!" Super Sonic cried, reaching out for him as his own quills turned blue once more. The hallucination of Hope broke away, showing Shadow that she was no longer there at all. "Grab my hand!" Sonic shouted.
Shadow waved him away, as he fell further into the atmosphere. "Go away, Sonic," Shadow mumbled. Super Sonic continued to chase after him. Shadow reached out for him, and Super Sonic grabbed his hand tightly. All that he caught hold of was the Mutual Mandolin. Shadow slipped away, and he disappeared into a single spark of light when he hit the ground. Super Sonic floated there for a second, devastated, before flying back to the ARK. Shadow had made his choice. And Sonic respected that. Sonic respected him.