Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sins Past ❯ Chapter 2

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Green Beach Zone

Amy watched the Island hit the water in the distance. The wave washed the beach clean of the shattered badniks.

Why does that seem connected to this? If Sonic really has gone rogue…

Big smashed the final badnik with his fishing rod. He seemed slow, but man was he strong. Maybe even a match for Knuckles. Not that Knuckles would like to hear that.

Cream flapped overhead, watching for incoming robots. The attack had been a surprise, even for her. Ever since Robotnik had gone insane, there had been no robots. Was he back?

The thought he wasn't was even worse. Who could pull it off? She ran through the list in her head. Techno. Her best friend? No way. Grimer? Likely suspect. But why? Grimer always marched to a tune. Someone had to be calling the shots.

A laser blast interrupted her train of thought. More Egg-robo's. Big was already slamming two of them. Cheese smashed a third. Her crossbow was already in her hand, a bolt flying through a fourth and fifth bot.

Metropolis Zone

The Tornado ducked between the spires of Metropolis easily, but the clouds of pollution were harder to avoid.

This is why I hate Metropolis Sonic reflected, coughing up another lungful of smog. To his left, he saw the ruins of Citadel Robotnik, left as a monument of his historic victory over Robotnik, all those years ago. Heh. Good times. Easier times. No psycho demons, no Ultimate Life forms, no Chaos…

“Sonic! We're coming up on the Emeralds, fast!” Tails called back. Knuckles cracked his knuckles, hyping himself up. Noone took his Emeralds. Not without a fight.

“See you down below!” he yelled, leaping out of the plane, gliding to the target. Whoever it was didn't matter. There wasn't a lot he couldn't crack. And whatever he couldn't, well, he'd give it a run for its money.

While Tails manoeuvred the plane to a better position, Sonic prepared himself. 3, 2, 1. Now. He leapt after Knuckles to the rooftop.

Alright, losers. Game over.

Emerald Hill Zone

Shadow blinked in the unfamiliar light. Sunlight. He thought

-me to di-

-urn them to-

He shook his head. Don't fight it. Let it happen. Rouge watched him with interest. Omega was impassive, same as always.

Nothing. Nothing clear, anyway. Zachary must know what happened. He has to. He created me, after all. Shadow pushed on. The Emerald Hill. Familiar as well. Emerald. Emerald. Emeralllllllll

Fire. Pain. Laughter? Can't hold on. Have to. My promise. Promise to a madman. Wish. Dearest wish. MASTER.

Rouge saw him fall. Omega was the first to catch him. Dammit. I need him alive for now. If Master Scholar finds out I let him die, I don't even want to think about it!

“Shadow?”

“I'm okay, Omega. Just a little dizzy. This is my first time seeing the sun.”

“You sure you're okay?”

“I'm fine, Rouge. Now lets go, shall we? We've got an appointment with the Doctor.”

He led the way, his sneakers firing up, scorching the grass beneath. At least he leaves an easy trail to follow. Rouge thought as she followed him.

Omega stayed silent. His thoughts were his own. H easily kept pace with Rouge, utterly focused on the horizon, never turning his head.

Metropolis Zone

Knuckles dropped onto the rooftop, ready to cause some pain. His first swing was grabbed by Espio. His second was dodged by Vector. Charmee was hit by Vectors tail.

“OWWWW!!! What'd `you do that for?!” he protested as he hit the ground.

“Do what?” Vector asked guiltily. H just took his shot. Anyone else would've.

Knuckles looked at the Chaotix Crew in disbelief. They had the Emeralds? Espio released his fist. “That how you greet friends in this dimension, huh?”

“Sorry. But I'm looking for the Emeralds. Tails said YOU have `em.”

Sonic hit the roof, all arrogant and cocky. Just like always. He glanced around, fists cocked and ready.

“Well? Can I hit something now?” he asked, looking around.

Vector laughed heartily. “You think we stole the Emeralds? That's probably just latent energy we picked up from the Omni-Viewer!” Charmee flew up to Tails, who had landed on a separate rooftop.

“Hi-ditty-ho, Tails. Long time no see.” he screeched. Tails winced at the voice which could scratch glass.

“Hey, Charmee. How you doing?”

Sonic gestured to him. Impatient. Vector shifted uncomfortably. “Sonic, you think maybe-” he began.

“Sorry for the false alarm, guys. Catch ya later.” Sonic yelled as he leapt off the roof, followed by Knuckles and Tails. Tails was just relieved to lose Charmee. Ever since they had taken down D. R. A. T. that time, he seemed to think they were best friends.

The Chaotix watched them go.

“Damn. We could have used their help.” Espio mused.

“We're the yazzing Chaotix Crew, Espio. We don't need help!” Charmee yelped.

Vector led them to the air-bus drop point. “Well, how hard can it be? We get to Green Beach, blow some stuff up, get Mighty and get out. 1, 2, 3.”

They hopped onto the bus. Fortunately, there's plenty of money in the detective biz, if you know how to use it.

Green Beach Zone

The badniks were gone. No major problem. Amy retrieved the last bolt from the Egg-robo. Cream flew high overhead. No way anyone could sneak up on them.

“Hey, I know you.”

Of course, there's always the off-chance.

Amy turned. Above them, three new guys. A bat, a robot and Sonic? No. Totally different. Black and red. Not Sonic. Maybe he was the one who took the fish and Chocola. It was the bat who spoke for the group.

“You're Big, right? We met on the Floating Island.” she went on. Big went stiff. His tail fluffed behind him.

“Big, who is-” Amy began.

“You took the Emeralds before!” Big shouted. “Maybe you took Buddy too!”

The bat laughed. The hedgehog tossed his head. Arrogant, like Sonic. The robot stayed the same. “Honey, even if I knew what Buddy was, I wouldn't admit to that.”

“This is a waste of time, Rouge. Zachary is getting further away.” the hedgehog said, getting irritated.

“Calm down, Shadow. Your Chaos Control just saved us a couple of hours. Can't we have a little fun?”

Shadow? Oh no.

Amy was firing the arrow before she knew what was happening. The hedgehog (it couldn't be Shadow, Shadow died!) dodged easily. The bat laughed again.

“Watch it, girl. You have no idea what you're messing with.” Shadow (?) growled.

“You blew up an entire universe! No way are you getting away this time!”

Shadow froze, almost terrified. Its not true he thought. She's lying.

Omega cocked his cannons. Cream dropped a rock on it, and the shot went wild. Rouge giggled, having the time of her life.

“Sorry kiddies. But we're in a different league than you.” She tossed down several rings, which exploded. Big's fishing line intercepted the third, and he flung it back up at them. Rouge flew above the blast easily. Shadow bounced off a rock, landing mere feet away from Amy. Omega just dropped.

Amy fired again. Only Shadow wasn't there anymore. He was behind her, kicking her in the head.

“Still want to continue this, girl?”

Her crossbow answered for her. Shadow didn't even bother to dodge, he just caught it.

Rouge smacked Cream out of the air. As she fell, Big ran beneath to catch her. Omega's fist stopped him dead.

“Must terminate all opponents.” he intoned, his leaden voice changing pitch slightly. Almost happy. This was what he was programmed for. Destruction.

Shadow flipped over Amy, getting the high ground. “You're fast, Shadow. But I've fought Super Sonic. I'm used to speed.” The next bolt pierced his hand.

Shadow hit the ground, screaming. So this is pain? I cannot-His foot smashed into her jaw, knocking her flat. He grabbed Rouge and Omega, announcing “We are outta here!” They vanished in a flash of light, leaving three very confused warriors behind them.

He's stronger than I thought. Faster. Like a supercharged Sonic. If he survived, what else is he mixed up in?

Metropolis Zone

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles wandered the streets, looking for something, ANYthing, that would help. The Chaos radar was a bust. The Chaos energy in the air kept setting it off.

The giant tv overhead crackled into life, and showed a close up of a very red nostril.

“Grimer, you fool! Not that-” The angle adjusted. Red moustache. Bald. The military jacket. The Emeralds floating in a jar behind him.

Oh God, no. Not him. But it was. Robotnik, back from insanity.

“Ahem! Citizens of Metropolis! I'm sure you all remember me. I mean, who wasn't bombed by my badniks before, am I right? For those that don't, I am Ivo Robotnik, back to say…

You are all going to die. You think Chaos was bad? The Syndicate? HAH! Pain, suffering? Just words, now. But soon, they'll take on a very REAL meaning. My armies amass. This world will burn. And no one can stop me.

Make your peace. Its time to die.”

The darkness… it wasn't clouds. It was badniks. A thousand strong, falling upon the city. And just Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to defend the city.

Sonic grinned. Just like old times.

“Alright, guys. Lets show these guys how we did it back in the day.” He launched himself into the air, already rolling up.

Tails, likewise, took to the air. Leaving Knuckles. “Oh sure, pick on the guy who can't fly.” He cracked his knuckles. “Its clobbering time!”

Sonic smashed from badnik to badnik. But there were so many. Always so many. Running for death, Kintobor had told him once. Running for death his whole life. Behind him, Tails hit any that he missed. With Knuckles down below, how could this strategy fail?

If a few thousand more dropped past him. Which they did. This was not good. Good as Knuckles was, he couldn't fight an army. Hell, the three of them together couldn't fight an army.

Knuckles drove his fist through another badnik. It didn't matter how many he smashed, they were just trying to overwhelm him with numbers. And they would, sooner or later. He was gonna die here, miles from home.

Sonic began to drop, angling his fall to smash into a few more badniks. It was pointless, though. Once he hit the ground, he was dead. If you can hear me, now's a good time to-

He blinked. And the world went red.

“RRRRRAAAARRGGGGHH!!!!” The scream heard round the world. The heat tore through the badniks, and smacked Tails out of the sky.

“DESTROY!!!” Super Sonic. Goody. Knuckles looked around. Supes didn't differentiate between friends and enemies. They were all just targets to him. Need an escape route, if he doesn't exhaust himself smashing badniks.

Tails hit the roof hard. The following badnik hit him harder. Super Sonic hit the ground, tossing the hundreds of badniks sky-high. Something exploded down below. Probably a gas line. Knuckles helped him extricate himself from the badniks wires.

“So, what now?” Knuckles inquired. There was another explosion below.

“Now, we let Sonic tire himself out, then track that signal Robotniks transmitting. If we find him, we find the Emeralds.”

Down below, the fight was over. Wreckage of the badniks was strewn everywhere. And Sonic was on his knees in the middle of it all. The final badnik levered its blaster. Easy shot.

The last thing it saw was a fist with enlarged knuckles swinging towards its eyes.

Knuckles dusted his fist off, while Tails helped Sonic to his feet. Still shaky.

“Wooo, what a rush. I… wow, I did this?” Sonic remarked, noticing the destruction.

“Yeah, but you missed one. Don't bother to thank me, by the way.” Knuckles tossed at him.

Tails was kneeling beneath the tv, hacking in, tracing the signal.

“Gotcha.” he whispered. “Hey guys! I've got him! He's transmitting from about thirty miles away! Near where the Misery Zone was.”

“Was?” Knuckles inquired.

“Yeah. There was… an incident a couple years ago. It got blown up.” Sonic said, scuffing his foot, embarrassed. “But it was full of monsters, though.”

Green Beach Zone

Last stop. Of course it was. If only they had half the cool stuff Equinox gave them to get around.

Didn't matter. They were near the base.

“VECTOR!”

He turned, saw Amy running to him, along with two new guys. Well, a new guy and new girl.

“Amy? What're you doing here?”

“We…uh, well, Sonic kidnapped a Chao, so I followed him here. What about you?”

“Someone kidnapped Mighty, and we're gonna get him back. Wanna tag along?”

Amy hesitated. Is this where I tell you we met Shadow? The one who destroyed your home universe?

“Can't hurt.” Coward.

Frog Forest

Shadow wrapped a bandage around his hand. It would heal within the hour. He didn't know how he knew, but he did.

Rouge wasn't happy. And she was democratic when she was angry. She made sure everyone was miserable. “WHAT possible reason was there in taking us out of there?!”

“My reason, Rouge. Not yours.” He tried to ignore her. He failed.

“God!” She tossed her head angrily, then stormed off.

When she was safely out of earshot, she flipped up her communicator. “Sir? This is Rouge reporting.”

“Well? What did you find?”

“I don't know, sir. I think… I think its Shadow.”

“Impossible. Shadow is dead. You said so yourself.”

“I know I did, sir. But… well, he's used Chaos Control, and… it seems like him.”

“Continue your observation, Rouge. Inform me of anything that happens. Anything.”

“Understood, sir.”

She never saw Omega on the branch overhead, watching. This is unfortunate. I had hoped that she was open to our cause, but…

The master must be informed.

To be continued...