Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Fear ❯ The Ol' Switcheroo ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Something was wrong, and Knuckles noticed it first.

"Everybody stop!" he shouted.

They did so.

"What?" Sonic demanded harshly, glaring at the black hedgehog.

"They're not fighting back," Knuckles replied.

"They're…not…" Shadow murmured, looking around. The robots were all looking at them, but did not move to attack. He marched up to one. "Where is Robotnik?"

"Computer room. Take corridor C to the second right turn, fifteen doors down on the left," the robot intoned.

The fact that they got an answer was surprising enough. Out of all the robots Eggman had ever created, only Omega had been known to talk. But to have the robot willingly tell him where the doctor was? Something was seriously, seriously wrong. They followed the robot's instructions and burst into the room where about fifty robots stood. Eggman spun to look at them, a look of abject terror on his face for a brief moment before relaxing.

"You brought them?" he asked.

"What are you playing at, Robotnik?" Shadow demanded.

Eggman paused for a brief moment, studying the blue hedgehog as if confused then turned to the computer.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Sonic, we must work together. Going looking for that thing was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. We must reseal it before it kills again. It followed me here and I've managed to contain it."

"Why would you want to stop it from killing again?" Sonic demanded, crossing his arms.

He again paused and studied the red echidna; that made the three pretenders start to get nervous. "Because nobody should have to die that way. Not even Sonic."

The heroes studied the man for a while until, with slow trepidation, Shadow approached.

"Fine, Robotnik. We'll do it to save the world. But after this, we're enemies again. Agreed?"

The man studied him, and their nervousness increased. He turned to Sonic and tilted his head. "So where are the emeralds? You've got the Master Emerald, right?"

"Show us your Chaos Emerald first!" Knuckles said hotly. He was turned toward and studied as well. The doctor gave a laugh then turned to Sonic.

"Well, Sonic, you are in quite the pickle!"

The others were confused. "Why are you talking to Knuckles like that?" Tails asked.

"Because he, Shadow, and Sonic have had the old switcheroo done on them!" Eggman replied gleefully.

"Liar!" Amy spat, linking arms with Shadow. "I would know if this wasn't Sonic!"

"Tell me this. Have the three of them been acting strangely. It doesn't have to be big things. All three of them know each other well enough to fake it for a while. But little things."

"Like what?" Rouge demanded.

Omega buzzed. "Only Shadow refers to Eggman as Robotnik," he intoned, staring steadily at Shadow. "Everybody else calls him Eggman."

Rouge froze, her mouth parting as she tried to find something to say. She suddenly spun to Knuckles, glaring hotly. "What is my middle name?"

"…"

"Come on!"

"Do we give up?" Sonic asked miserably.

"Yes," came the reluctant answer.

Rouge stormed up and looked ready to hit him.

"Well? What's my middle name?"

Shadow dashed over as she moved to slap him. "If I told them your middle name, you would cut my heart out, Rouge."

"Not that we don't know it," Sonic said, casually leaning back against a machine and smiling. "But don't blame him for that. We're linked mentally. We can share thoughts. Memories. Emotions."

"Yes," Knuckles replied with a growl as he dashed over to stand beside Sonic. "And Fear didn't give us much of a choice in learning it. Trust me when I tell you that we know everything about each other."

There was dead silence for a good minute. Eggman suddenly began laughing. He laughed until tears were streaking down his face.

"What's so funny, Doc?" Sonic demanded, eyes narrowed.

"Sonic, my nemesis and the thorn in my side, is no longer the fastest thing in the universe!"

Sonic felt his cheeks warm and he stormed up to Eggman. "No. But I am the strongest, so if you don't want to end up with a broken everything you might want to shut that mouth of yours!"

That certainly shut the man up, and he turned back to the computer. "Right. Back to business. Knuckles, you brought the Master Emerald?"

Knuckles held out his hands and Sonic pulled it out of subspace and tossed it to him. "I've got it right here."

"And the six emeralds?"

"Where's yours?" Sonic demanded.

Eggman typed in a code and a panel opened up in the console of the computer. He pulled out the green emerald. "Now where are yours?"

Everybody looked to Knuckles as Amy said. "We gave them to Shadow for safe keeping…Or whoever that is."

"Knuckles, Amy," said being commented dryly as he waved his hand and the other six gems floated in front of him. "Now how are we doing this?"

"Well…somebody has to bring the eight emeralds into the chamber where Fear is and activate them," Eggman said.

"And let me guess," Sonic asked with a snort. "You volunteer."

"No."

Everybody blinked. "Really?" Tails asked incredulously.

"Oh ho!" Sonic said cheerfully as Knuckles and Shadow sidled up to join them, grinning just as wide as the red echidna. "Fear almost gotcha, didn't he?" Eggman looked away, and Sonic laughed heartily. "Ooh, what did he show the big bad doctor to make him so scared?"

"…Nothing."

"Quite some nothing if little bitty Robotnik is refusing to wield the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald together," Shadow laughed, startling everybody there.

"We still need a volunteer," Eggman grumbled. "So who's it going to be?"

"I'll do it!" Amy and Rouge said at the same time.

"No!" the two hedgehogs and the echidna screeched at the same time.

"Rouge," Shadow said seriously. "I will not let you go near that thing."

"Why not? Am I not tough enough?"

"That's not it, Rouge," Sonic said with a head shake.

"Then I'll go," Amy said.

"No, Amy," Sonic said firmly.

"So I'm not tough enough?" she asked angrily.

"That is not the reason!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Then what is?" they both asked.

They went silent, glaring at them. Sonic finally stirred. "How do you think we switched bodies?"

Eggman frowned. "Fear? How did he do that?"

There was more silence then Tails stepped forward.

"That thing. The one in Eggman's old workshop. That was Fear, wasn't it?"

"Yes," they answered at the same time.

"What happened?" Eggman asked. When the three beings glared at him, he shrugged. "I might be able to help. I do have an IQ of 300."

"Fear touched us. Things happened. When we woke up, we were in our own bodies," Sonic said, looking away.

"But we felt strange," Shadow said. "About two weeks later, we woke up again. But we weren't in our own bodies."

Knuckles stared at the Master Emerald in his hands, weighing his words carefully; there were things he wanted to say that had to be run through his 'protect Tikal and M.E.' filter. "The Master Emerald has been trying to help us get back into our own bodies, but it turns out that we have somehow taken some of Fear's magic inside of us. It is just as old and as powerful as the Master Emerald, so it cannot tamper with us, though that sort of thing should be easy for it."

"Wait a second!" Eggman exclaimed loudly. "What do you mean Fear touched you?"

"Fear touched us," Sonic said. "It's as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less."

"That is not simple, Sonic!" Eggman said fiercely. "In the whole history of recorded time, not one person, animal or human, has ever lived after being touched by Fear! Ever! Has the Master Emerald determined how this happened?"

"No…" Sonic said slowly. "Did you two know that?"

"No," Knuckles said.

"M.E. didn't explain it like that," Shadow murmured.

They felt the stares of everybody on them as they spoke, staring at the floor. Eggman gathered the Chaos Emeralds and gave them to Sonic and Shadow.

"You three are the only ones who even have a chance to get out of that chamber alive. Just know, Sonic, that if you die, this is not how I wanted it to end. I would rather have ended you myself."

Sonic hated the seriousness of the situation, so he smirked at his arch-enemy. "Aw c'mon, Eggman. Do you honestly think that thing could kill me? Even you can't do that, and you're a lot worse!"

Everybody who wasn't going into the chamber laughed too hard, including Eggman, but all of them, especially the three that were going into the chamber, knew that it wasn't really that funny. Eggman led them down the hall to a door.

"Inside you will find another door. The code to this one is Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Alpha, Omicron, Xi, Zeta. The next door is a color pattern. Blue, red and yellow on the right, and black, white, and red on the left. The third door you will get to is different. You must activate a Chaos Emerald to get through it. You will be sucked through the door and will appear on the other side. Until Fear is contained, the door will not open. You will be stuck in there with the creature. Do you understand?"

They nodded. Sonic swallowed. "So what did Fear show you? Me beating you?"

Eggman frowned, looking away. "Why do you care?"

Sonic shrugged and looked down. "I don't know."

Eggman hesitated then reached up to take off his glasses to reveal small blue eyes.

"You have your grandfather's eyes," Shadow said with a nod.

Eggman softened a bit. "Thanks. I miss him."

"When did he die?"

"Oh, he's still alive, and hasn't aged much. But he doesn't know who I am most of the time. I visit sometimes."

Shadow nodded. "Maybe I could visit sometime. I would like to say goodbye to the man who made me."

Eggman nodded. "That would be nice." He paused. "What was my cousin like?"

Shadow swallowed. "Maria?"

"Yeah."

The blue hedgehog took a deep breath. "She was the smartest, kindest, sweetest, most beautiful person I have ever met. She always had a smile, always saw the brightness of life, even when she was shaking in pain. I miss her greatly. I'm sorry that I couldn't save her. You would have been able to meet her."

"Grandfather raves about her."

"He loved her dearly. She was the light of his life. I can't remember how, but he changed my memories to make me think that Maria's last wish was to get revenge on the humans for her death. But Amy helped me remember what she really said."

"What did she say?" Eggman asked.

"Doc, this is a touchy subject," Sonic said to spare Shadow, but Shadow shook his head.

"If there is anybody in this world who deserves to know, it is Robotnik," Shadow said firmly. "When she spoke, she was in pain. She was shot through the chest. I remember very clearly the blood spreading out on her shirt, staining the blue with red. Then she spoke and I met her eyes for the last time."

There was a long pause so Eggman said softly, "And?"

Shadow felt his bottom lip tremble and tears slipped down his cheeks, but his voice was steady. "'Shadow I beg of you, please do it for me...for a better future! For all the people who live on that planet...Give them a chance to be happy...Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.'"

Eggman's face pinched, and he looked away. He clearly didn't know what to say. Sonic and Knuckles were surprised to see tears in the human's eyes. He leaned against the wall and covered his face with one of his hands. Sonic walked over and touched him lightly.

"Eggman? You okay?"

"No."

Sonic paused. "Why do you constantly try to take over the world?"

Eggman lowered his hand. "Because in a moment of lucidity my Grandfather ordered me to make people pay for what they did to Maria. So that's what I try to do. And don't think that will ever change, Sonic."

Sonic nodded. "I can understand that. But don't you think that I'll stop foiling your plans."

"Then we're agreed," Eggman said.

"Yes."

They stood there awkwardly for a minute then Sonic took a deep breath. "Well, we best get in there."

"Yes. Of course."

Eggman walked away, but turned to them before he went around the corner. "I saw my grandfather. He burst into flames, and screamed at me to get revenge for Maria. Then he laughed. That was what got me. He laughed, and it was so deranged and scary. I knew he would never be lucid again, and that terrified me. So I ran."

He stood there for about ten seconds then left them alone. They took in the information then looked at each other.

"Are we really going to do this?" Knuckles asked numbly. Sonic nodded.

Shadow sighed. "If this is goodbye, I want you two to know that there is nobody else I would rather be linked to. It's been…fun."

Sonic smiled. "Ditto."

Knuckles nodded then they turned to the door. Shadow input the code and it opened to reveal a short hallway. There were no windows and only one door on the other end of it. It looked secure. They stepped through and the first door slammed shut behind them, and they heard a pressurized lock seal it into place. There was no going back. There was no keypad to put the code back in. They walked to the second door and Knuckles arranged the color code. The door opened. They went through to find a slightly longer hallway with another door at the end. They swallowed as the door sealed behind them, and slowly walked forward to stand in front of the last door. Sonic brought forth the silver Chaos Emerald, looked at his companions, then activated it. There was a sucking sensation and they stood in the room. Black eyes settled on them and a growl sounded out when it saw the Chaos Emerald.

"You think to contain me again?"

"Yes," Shadow said tossing his emeralds in the air. Sonic did the same as Knuckles brought forth the Master Emerald and expanded it to its normal size. The Chaos Emeralds activated then began charging as the Master Emerald floated into the center of the circle.

Knuckles knelt down and folded his hands. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos."

The Master Emerald flashed and linked all seven Chaos Emeralds. The large green gem flashed and began charging, too. Knuckles stood and frowned.

"Why aren't you attacking us?"

"What is wrong with you three?" Fear asked, ignoring the question.

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"To put it in a way that you could understand, you do not appear to be edible. I have never come across something that produced such a foul flavor. Your emotions are delightful, and all of them are so strong. Your sadness was a good drink. Your pain, a delicious crunch. Your anger added a nice spice. Your shame made everything nice and hot. But the best part was your hatred. All three of you possess true hatred, such a rare thing, and it was the perfect dessert, nice and rich. However, when your minds had started slipping, I attempted to decompose your bodies. But all the good flavors were suddenly overrun by a terrible taste. I stopped and tried you each one by one to see if it was better. It was not. All of you tasted bad in a different way. Your emotions were still feeding me, but they stopped tasting good. They had turned sour, which morphed into bitterness. I struggled to maintain my grip on you, but I finally had to spit you out as your minds returned full force. When you left me, you stole a small fraction of my power. I want it back."

"What does it matter to you?" Knuckles asked. "You're going to be contained in ten minutes."

"You are not good enough to have my power. If I take it back, you should return to your normal states. Then I will go quietly."

They glanced at each other then looked up at the Master Emerald.

"What say you, M.E.? Will it work?" Sonic asked.

Tikal appeared on the ground and studied the dark creature. It had the form of a great wolf, and it didn't move.

"Don't even think about it," Knuckles warned.

"Peace, Knuckles. I couldn't if I wanted to. She is protected by the Master Emerald," Fear said distastefully.

Tikal ignored him completely and turned to face them. "It should work."

"Thank you, Princess," Knuckles said politely.

"I shall monitor, child of black," she said, moving to the side and crossing her arms.

"How does this work?"

"You must touch me," Fear said simply.

"That's it?" Shadow asked.

"That should suffice."

They nodded and approached, each holding out their right hand. Fear melted into a black mass and dashed over to them, wrapping tendrils around their wrists. There was a pull toward him that wasn't physical followed by white hot by white hot pain.